Undercover at Camp Green Lake
by solitaireclay07
Summary: REWRITTEN. It seems like an ordinary girl is sent to CGL. But is she really there for a crime or does she have another reason to be there? And does someone know the real reason she's there and want her gone permanently? Does Kristina even know the truth?
1. Intro

I'm revisiting my Holes story and rewriting it all.

And then I'm going to finish it when I finish one of my other chapter stories.

* * *

I'd like to think I'm an ordinary girl. I have a normal life; normal school, normal family, normal everything. Except for one thing...

I looked at the clock pleadingly, as I sat in the boss' room. It had been twenty minutes since I've been sitting in this room, and I really needed to get home.

Twenty minutes earlier, I was ready to go home, had my backpack slung over my shoulder from my trip her straight after school, until Mrs. Cranpery ran up to me.

"Kristina! Kristina!" she shouted, stopping in front of me.

"Sorry, Mrs. Cranpery, I'm going home now," I said, putting on my brown hat. I like to think of it as my lucky hat.

"But, Kristina, the boss wants to see you." I stopped in my tracks. That wasn't good. Last time that happened, I almost got fired from my boring job. Which, when I think about it, wouldn't be that bad.

"What for?" I asked, kind of nervously. Seeing the boss meant a new job. New jobs weren't good either. More boring paperwork.

"He said he has a new assignment for you." There. That had done it. New assignment. Two of the most dreaded words ever spoken in this building. I think I might go into a corner and die now.

So, here I am. Sitting in the boss' room, ready for my fate.

Suddenly, the door knob turned and I looked quickly to the door. In walked my boss, a tall man who always wears sunglasses, even when it's dark out.

"Agent 66," he said in a grim voice. Oh no, something bad was coming up.

"My name's Kristina, not Agent 66," I said. I'm not an agent, really, I'm not. Just because I work for the F.B.I., doesn't mean I'm an agent. All I do is help the agents, write boring paperwork, sit in a room with a computer all day. I'm not even close to being an agent.

"You are now."

"What?!" I shouted, eyes widened. No _possible_ way. I couldn't be an agent for the F.B.I. That was crazy. I was just a simple student from a town that is virtually impossible to find on a map.

"As you know," my boss continued, unperturbed by my outburst. "There are no kids as agents. Not one under twenty years old. We are required to use one for this assignment."

"What assignment are you talking about?" I asked, as calmly as I could, although my voice was raised an octave. I couldn't help it. I was scared.

The boss gave me a folder. "Everything you need to know is in there. You will now be known as Agent 66. You must _never_ give away your identity. Your name will still be Kristina Charon, because you are a new agent, but you must not tell anyone that you one."

I sighed, my hands nervously shaking. "Do I _have_ to be an agent?" I asked. I didn't want to be one at all.

"Yes," he replied, unsmiling, "For this assignment. Then you can quit if you want to."

He began to explain all the details that I would need to know. Weird thing is, not once did he actually say what it was.

"This assignment is to find the illegal activities that are carried out there. You must find out while acting like a regular, normal person. That clear?"

"Yes," I answered shortly.

"Tomorrow morning, at six, you will be flying out, and then taking a bus. I suggest you pack. I'll meet you at the airport tomorrow morning. Good luck."

I watched as the boss left the room, and then looked at the folder in my hands. Not once did he say where I was actually going. I opened the folder, and read the only words on the first page.

Camp Green Lake.


	2. And To Camp Green Lake We Go

I heaved a huge sigh and gazed out of the dirty bus window. I tugged lightly on my right hand, which was currently resting in a handcuff; the other part fastened to a pole on the bus.

I had just learned yesterday what this mysterious "Camp Green Lake" was. A correctional facility. Not just that, but a correctional facility for _guys_! I was going to be the only girl there. In a camp full of hormonal teenage guys! I swear, if they do anything...

Since I'm supposed to be a "normal" person there, I have to act like I'm a juvenile delinquent while at this camp. A "regular" person. Yeah right.

That's why I'm handcuffed to the bus. This is so stupid.

A cloud of dust swirling outside my window and I noticed holes in the sand. Trying to look farther in the distance, I saw buildings. Tents.

Boys.

They all stopped and stared when they caught sight of the bus. I hoped that they couldn't see me through the windows.

Finally, the bus came to a stop, and I waited, hearing voices come through the window.

"Looks like a new camper-"

"I hope the new guy doesn't get our tent-"

I rolled my eyes, as the guard uncuffed me and sent me down the stairs into the world waiting for me outside.

"Wait a second..." I heard one guy said, as I stepped onto the desert sand.

Every guy stood in front of me, gaping with their mouths wide open, like they'd never seen a girl before.

"D-dude, it's a girl!" I heard a whisper.

"Long brown hair, green eyes. She's exactly my type," another guy said, and I caught him nudge the guy with dirty glasses next to him.

"Man, she's gorgeous." I watched as everyone looked toward a guy with crazy hair.

More catcalls and whistles followed me as I followed the guard into a building on the left. I opened the door and felt the cool relief of air conditioning. My eyes immediately settled on a man who was turned around away from me. I uncertainly sat in the chair in front of the desk.

"So, you're the girl," the man said, turning around. As soon as he faced me, I unconsciously shrunk back into my seat. "I usually don't allow girls into my camp, but I hear you're a bad one." I raised my eyebrow.

"You think that's funny?" he asked, leaning forward and getting right into my face.

"N-no," I answered, scared to death of what this guy could do to me.

"My name is Mr. Sir." He spat out a sunflower seed shell. "Whenever you speak to me, you must call me by my name, is that clear?"

"Um...yes," I said, then hastily added, "Mr. Sir."

Mr. Sir sat back in his seat. "You might be a girl, but this isn't any Girl Scout camp." I said nothing. Then, Mr. Sir said something I never thought I'd hear. "Are you hiding anything, girl?" I shook my head. "I have to check."

I sat up quickly. "No freakin' way!"

Mr. Sir moved forward slowly. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," I lied, sitting back in my seat.

"We'll skip the next part, but don't expect any other handicaps because you're a girl."

I sighed with relief. Mr. Sir gave me an orange jumpsuit with other clothing. "You wear one set to work in and the other for relaxation. Laundry is done every three days. That day, your work clothes will be washed, and the other set will become your work clothes. You will then have clean clothes to wear when resting."

"Um...Mr. Sir," I said, finally finding the courage to speak. "What do we do here?"

"Missy, you are to dig one hole each day, every day. Your hole must be five feet deep and five feet across. Your shovel is your measuring stick. Breakfast is at 4:30. Got that?"

Dig holes? What kind of correctional facility was this? This had to be some joke. But, instead, I mumbled, "Yes, Mr. Sir."

"Come on," Mr. Sir got up out of his seat and I quickly followed him outside. "See any fences?"

I looked around and saw nothing but sand, more sand, and some tents. Not to mention holes. Lots and lots of holes. "No, Mr. Sir."

"How about guard towers?"

I immediately answered, "No, Mr. Sir."

"Run away, I dare ya." I looked at Mr. Sir like he was crazy. Okay, what was he up to?

"I'm not gonna run away," I announced, remembering why I was here.

"That's good," Mr. Sir drawled. "We've got the only water around here for a hundred miles. So you'd be buzzard food in three days."

Suddenly, this lanky guy came rushing up to me. "Hello! My name is Mr. Pendanski. I will be your counselor, in tent D. A guy tent, but since you screwed up your life acted like one, you get to be one." Well, this guy totally freaks me out.

"Now..." We started walking to the tents. "Kristina's your name, right?" I nodded. "I know your life might be a little screwed up, but you can turn it back around!" I desperately wanted to say something to Mr. Pendanski, like "Do you always act like this?" but decided against it.

"Ahh..." We stopped in front of a tent. "D Tent." I could have sworn I saw a pair of eyes peeking out of the corner of the tent.

Mr. Pendanski led me up the stairs and inside; the tent completely went quiet. It was like they had never seen this before. A girl, I mean. What a glorious another couple months.

"Okay, Kristina, this is-" he started pointed to the guys, "Rex, José, Ricky, Theodore, Alan, Stanley, and Zero."

"Mom, how many times do we have to tell you?" the one Mr. Pendanski called Rex said, "It's X-Ray, Magnet, Zigzag, Armpit, Squid, Caveman, and Zero."

"Their nicknames," Mr. Pendanski explained, waving them off, "When you get a nickname, you're doomed for life. At least that's what I think. Anyway, I'm gonna leave you here Kristina." And with that, the scary happy-go-lucky guy left.

Left me with a tent full of guys. I'm just so lucky.

"You're Kristina, huh?" X-ray asked, as soon as Pendanski left.

"Yeah," I answered, then immediately thought I shouldn't have opened my mouth.

"Nicknames?" Another one asked. I couldn't remember what he was named. Maybe...Magnet?

"None." I decided that I wasn't gonna tell these guys anything.

The one kid named Squid or Alan or whatever smirked, his eyes lighting up. "What about Krissy?"

I cringed at_ that_ name. Ihate _that_ name. "What?" I asked, my eyes flashing dangerously.

He continue to smirk, a toothpick dangling from his mouth. "If you don't like Krissy, how about Kris?"

I think he's already trying to make my life miserable. "I have no nicknames whatsoever. And if you call me those nicknames, you will regret it." Yes, threats always work.

"Yeah right," he scoffed. Or not. I threw my hands in the air in defeat and left the tent. What did I do to deserve this? My life has taken a whole one eighty degree turn...from acceptable to awesomely bad. What was I gonna do?


	3. Dinner Disaster

I've decided that there is only one way I will get through these next months at Camp Green Lake. Ignoring everyone. And that's what I'm gonna do. I will not talk, I will not communicate, I will be so invisible that it's like I never even came to this place in the first place. So, that's my plan.

A shout interrupted me. Something about "dinner is ready!".

I have one thing to say about "dinner". Yes, "dinner" in air quotations. Dinner is composed of some type of slop that, I assure you, is not food. Just when I think my life can't get worse, I have to starve myself.

I sat down at the table, turning around to ignore the guys. I could tell they noticed, because they immediately stopped talking. Then they started whispering to each other, probably about me.

"Hey, Kristina," one of them said. Who said it, I don't know, but I don't really care either.

And so, I ignored whoever said my name. I went back to picking at my food, looking down at my plate, turned away from them.

Okay, what happened next has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They started to chant my name, to get my attention or something. But I knew exactly what they were doing. They were trying to get me mad at them. But I vowed to ignore them, so, I did. At least for a little while.

Then, I heard it. A "Krissy" thrown into the chant of Kristina. And by, the third Krissy, I cracked.

"WILL ALL YOU SHUT UP!?!?" Oops.

"Sorry," the one guy said. Why can't I ever remember names? Um...ZigZag. Yeah. That's it. "We're just trying to talk to you."

"I don't _want_ to talk to any of you," I said simply. I was laying out the rules.

"Well, that isn't a very nice thing to say," X-Ray stated. "You've got to have respect for your fellow tent mates." What an idiot.

I resisted the urge to talk back to them. Not that I couldn't, but, I needed to survive here, and that meant I had to get along with them – somewhat. It wasn't gonna be easy, but I had to do it. I said nothing. Not completely ignoring them, but just not speaking. It would work. Maybe...

"So, Kris..." "he" said. Yes, "he" in also air quotations. I cannot bring myself to speak his name. Or nickname. "He" deserves to be unnamed. Anyone who calls me Krissy or Kris does.

"What did I tell you about calling that. Please stop," I tried saying as nicely as I could.

"Whoa, I got a 'please' out of her. It's a miracle!" "he" said, looking quite satisfied with himself. Wow, what a great example of an egotistical jerk.

"You know what? You are the most egotistical person I have ever met." I didn't mean to say it outloud. It just sort of happened.

All the other guys 'oooh'ed like they knew what 'egotistical' meant. Doubt it.

"He" just stared at me, and then went back to his food. I raised an eyebrow at his failure to come back with something but decided that it wasn't important.

"So...um...whatcha here for?" ZigZag asked. I bet he's trying to make conversation.

Wait a second. What was I here for? Oh my god, did I have to make something up? Oh great. "Uh...I..." I thought about it for a second. "I got sent here because I sent my school on fire." That was the only thing that came to my mind.

"How did you manage to do that?" Magnet asked, an eyebrow raised.

That's a good question. Now I needed the answer to go along with that. Time for story time kiddies, gather round. "Well...I...umm..." Then it came to me. "Purposely mixed the wrong chemicals together in chemistry." Ahh...my least favorite class finally paid off. I'd have to thank Mr. Pedister later. "My...uh...gang told me to do it." As soon as I said that, I knew that I should have stopped talking long ago.

"Gang, huh? You don't seem like the type of person to be in a gang," one of them said. I didn't really pay attention to who said it.

"Well, I am. So shove off." Usually, when I'm shoved into a corner, I rely on threats to get me out.

All the guys looked at each other with false fear. "Oh, I'm so scared!" They're all jerks.

I suddenly got up from the table and threw away my food. I didn't have to deal with this any longer. Without a word, I walked out of the mess hall, and out of the guys' sight.

Walking to the tent, I began to think more about this assignment. About how stupid and unnecessary it was. I saw nothing harmful about this assignment. Yet, anyway.

The tent came into view, and I sped up, finally walking inside. I was never gonna get through this assignment. Never.

I needed some rest and relaxation. I laid down on the cot, trying to relax, ignoring the fact that the cot smelled like puke (urgh) and felt hard as a rock.

You know, all this would be resolved if I just died now. Someone kill me. It would clear all my problems.

I heard someone come in, but I didn't care. Then I had a gut feeling that a person was standing right beside my bed...excuse me, cot. "Go away," I snapped, out of nowhere.

"Fine, be that way. I was only gonna apologize." I opened my eyes to see "him" walk out of the tent. I frowned, and sat up. Well, that was different.

I got up and walked over to the entrance of the tent, watching him walk back to the mess hall. I kind of felt bad. Wait. Wait a freakin' minute. I cannot feel sorry for "him". Nope, never going to happen.

Walking back to my cot, I remembered what I was actually here for. Maybe some snooping would crack the case, and I could get out of here. Tonight, I would go to find something. Clues maybe. All I really want is a way out of here. Guess that I have to solve the case before I go anywhere.


	4. Clay Aiken Rocks My Socks

What to do? What to do? That was the real question. Here I was, stuck inside the tent with nothing to do. Wait. No worries. I rummaged through my bag, and brought out a couple things I was sure weren't allowed. Oh well. Guess I just snuck them in...on accident. Yes, accident. Not my fault he didn't search throughout my entire bag.

I brought out my CD player, and my case of CDs. I smiled to myself, reading the cover of my CD case. The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, with a silhouette of Clay Aiken hugging a little boy with autism.

Wait, you ask, Clay Aiken? Yes, Clay Aiken. Not my fault I fell in love with his voice.

I opened the CD case, and put in the first and most cherished CD in the case. I bet you can guess which CD that is. Measure of a Man, by Clay Aiken. As soon as I pressed the play button on the CD player, Clay's rich and powerful voice came through the headphones.

Damn, this boy can sing.

Guess the next half hour resulted in me getting lost in Clay's voice. Cause I don't remember anything after that first note Clay sang. Sadly, and not to mention rudely, I was interrupted.

Someone took my headphones off one ear and shouted, "Hello?!"

I jumped and turned around, angrily. Oh, the guys were back. Just my luck.

"Whatcha listening to?" "he" asked. God, when will he ever understand that I never want him to talk to me again?

"None of your business," I said, plain and simple.

I took my headphones off and set them on the bed. That was a huge mistake. One second later, it was gone. Of course, it had to be Magnet. I looked toward him, and saw he had on the headphones and was pressing the buttons on the CD player.

"Wait a second. Who the heck is this?" Magnet asked, making faces at the music.

"Oh come on. We want to listen too!" ZigZag yelled.

I turned around to see "him" taking out a portable boombox. Guess I wasn't the only one who snuck stuff in.

"Give me the CD Magnet," "he" said, as Magnet took out the CD, and gave it to "him". What was this? Musical CD? I should have demanded my CD back, but the prospect of hearing Clay's voice coming out of those speakers was too much.

A second later, "Invisible" started playing.

"What the hell?!" practically the whole tent shouted.

I raised an eyebrow at them.

"Is this who I think it is?" Caveman asked, "Is this...Clay Aiken?" Duh.

"THE GAY MAN?!?!" the rest of D-Tent shouted.

One thing you should know about me, if someone calls Clay gay, you'd better stay out of my way.

"What did you just call him?" I asked, glaring at them.

"Clay Aiken, or more precisely known as Clay Gaiken," "he" said. ...He's about to get it.

"Clay Aiken is NOT gay!" I said. The anger was easily audible.

"Sure, sure. If now-a-days, a guy who is not gay likes guys."

"You know what? You're probably the one that's gay. You want Clay to be only because of the reason that you like him. Or you're jealous of all the girls that he has." I love my comebacks.

"Oh yes. I want to be like Clay to have all the girls," "he" said, and then started prancing around the room, singing with the music, "If I was invisible, then I'm gay...oh yeah...If I was gay...wait, I already am!"

"Yeah, that's true. You _are_ gay," I exclaimed.

The other guys just watched on like little sissies in the background.

"Am not! Clay is!" "He" said.

"You are such a little kid arguing about a guy and if he's gay or not." Well, he was. I quickly looked over at the other guys to see them looking interested in our fight, except for Zero. Wonder why he wasn't making fun of Clay like everyone else.

"Whatever," he said.

"Okay, onto a change of subject," I announced, but didn't bother to turn off the CD player.

"I have something!" Armpit said, out of nowhere. He went over to his cot and bought back a box. Then he brought out a magazine.

"Yes!" ZigZag took the magazine from Armpit.

I said it before I thought of what I would be saying. "You guys aren't looking at porno, are you?"

All the guys (except Zero) were crowded around the magazine now.

X-Ray took off his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt to get a better look at the magazine. "No," X-Ray said, "This chick can sing."

I sighed in frustration. "It's not Britney Spears, is it?"

I got no answer, which proved my suspicion to be correct. I walked over to see the cover of a magazine with a half-naked Britney on it. Walking away, I coughed, "Slut."

If they heard me, then they're great at controlling their temper. I walked away without a fight about Britney Spears. Though I could rant and rave about how Britney is now a piece of trash for hours.

I walked around the camp to cool off. I had to bunk with idiots. It's my lucky day.

But the guys couldn't bring me down. All I had to remember was whatever happened, "it's gonna be a perfect day". I thought about what I just said and groaned.

About an hour later, when the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, I walked back in the tent to see the guys all lounging around. I walked over to my cot and sat down, watching the guys basically do nothing.

"Well, this is fun." And indeed, it was. Note the sarcasm.

"Just resting before the big day tomorrow," ZigZag said.

"Big day?" I asked.

"Yeah," "he" answered, "The big day when we get to watch you suffer."

"Suffer? What are you guys planning?"

"We're not planning anything," Magnet said, "It's not our fault you have to dig holes like the rest of us."

Dig...holes...? What the hell? Wait, didn't Mr. Sir say something about digging holes? He did. Oops. "Oh yeah, that. What's the point of digging holes anyway?"

"To build character," X-Ray stated. Right, build character. That made sense. Not. X-Ray quickly checked his watch. "Time for lights out."

"It's only nine," I said. Surely we weren't going to sleep at nine.

"We have to get up at four." Oh yeah. Breakfast at 4:30. Forgot that too.

About fifteen minutes later, the lights were out and everyone was sleeping...at least I think. Well, I knew I wasn't. Knew I couldn't. I had to go snooping tonight. I slowly and quietly got out of my cot, and then tiptoed over to the entrance, looking out. Nobody seemed to be there. Seemed was the part I was worried about.

Then I remembered what I had in my bag. I tiptoed back over there and opened the bag, bringing out a spy kit. Okay, not a real one since I wasn't old enough yet, but still, it was cool.

Night vision glasses. I would need those. I took those, and a couple other essentials, and quickly left the tent.

I walked around the tent, back against the wall so no one could see me. I was so glad I didn't have to wear one of those orange suits today. I would be easily spottable right now if I had. As soon as I was on the other side, I put on the night vision glasses. Now I could see.

I quickly, but silently, walked across the ground to the next tent, and went around the back so no one could see me. Then there was two more tents, which I did the same thing.

Finally at the main building. There had to be something in the office. I walked up the steps onto the porch of the office and then looked through one of the windows. It was dark inside. With my night vision glasses, I saw that no one was inside.

I moved to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. Figures. I reached back and pulled a bobby pin out of my hair. A few seconds later the door opened. I smiled to myself, and walked inside, closing the door behind me.

All right, so now, where were the filing cabinets? Ah...there they were. I walked over to them, and opened the first one. Taking the flashlight off my belt, I started to rummage through them.

Just the campers' files. All white-colored files. I went through each of them, but they were all the same. Then, in the back was a black one. Different then the others. It blended with the black of the back of the cabinet. Almost blended so perfectly, like someone didn't want you to see it.

I reached toward it, but then, there was the sound of a door opening. I looked toward the front door, but then realized that there was a door coming from the side of the room. Shit.

I quickly closed the cabinet, then got up, almost running toward the front door. I tried to open it but it was stuck. I quickly looked around, as the other door started to open. Wait. A window. I moved over to the window, and opened it. I quickly jumped out, and shut the window to see an outline of a person move into the room.

Okay, that was close. I ran around to the back of the office, and then went the same way back to the tent. I sort of expected someone to come chasing after me, but no one came. I walked back into the tent without a scratch. And no one noticed I was gone.

Slipping back under my covers of the cot, I wondered what was in that black file. Well, there was only one way to find out. And that was to go back.


	5. Dreams and Compromises

I was dreaming. I was dreaming that I was back home. I was walking down the road, and down an alley. Suddenly, I saw a black shadow move around the corner. I ran after it, but, as soon as I turned the corner, no one was there. Then...I heard something behind me. I slowly turned around to see the black shadow. Glowing eyes were staring back at me. The shadow was an outline, like a person in your dreams that you don't know what they look like. I screamed and fell backward, falling onto some trash bags. The black shadow was nearing, and I closed my eyes in fear.

"_Ma petite_," I heard. I opened my eyes to see that the black shadow was gone, and...Jean-Claude was standing there.

Okay. I think I might need to lay off the Anita Blake books.

"_Ma petite_, are you alright?" Jean-Claude started to say, but then his voice started to fade out. Instead I heard an annoying horn. I opened my eyes to see a white tent canvas.

Oh, I was awake. I heard movement beside me and saw all the guys getting up. I sighed. The feeling of night was still heavy in the air. Wow, I don't think I've ever been up this early.

I wanted to fall back asleep. Maybe it was Jean-Claude. Maybe I was wishing Richard would join Jean-Claude. I don't know, maybe I'm just being too out there today. I tried to sit up, but fell back on the cot, too tired to get up. I knew I shouldn't have stayed up snooping last night.

I slowly got up, and waited until the guys left for breakfast. I didn't want to get ready with them around.

About half an hour later, I made my way to the mess hall, or dining hall, or whatever they call it. I don't really care. I walked into the room, with only fifteen minutes of breakfast left. Oh well. I can starve myself for all I care. I quickly grabbed some fruit, and left without sitting down at the table. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone this morning.

I didn't want to go back to the tent, so I just wandered around for the next fifteen minutes until breakfast finally ended. I saw the guys leaving and ran up to them, following behind. They finally turned around and noticed me. Oh no.

"So, if it isn't the Clay Aiken freak," "he" said.

Freak? Yeah right.

"You mean Claymate," I muttered. I didn't feel like arguing today either. I didn't want to do anything. But I was being forced to dig a hole today, so, might as well grin and bare it.

There was a minute of silence as we walked up to the 'Library'. I bet you anything it's not really a library.

"What? No yelling?" "he" turned around. For once, I wish that one of the other guys would just speak up.

"Not in the mood," I answered.

"Not a morning person, huh?"

I didn't respond. No need for fighting. At least not for now. I sighed once again, and stopped in front of the "Library". And...the library is a library of shovels. I win the bet. Yay.

I took the shovel someone handed me. It was one of the days where I didn't pay attention to small details, like who handed me the shovel. Today is definitely gonna be a "zoning out day".

And out onto the "lake". Mr. Sir told us where to dig, and then left. I stared at the ground, looking at the spot Mr. Sir told me to dig at. Sure, it didn't seem like that big of a deal, but, it wasn't that. I was thinking of something different. The question was always in the back of my head, but I never really thought about it.

Why did we have to dig holes? To build character didn't seem right. Maybe there was another reason. I'll just have to wait to find out later.

I stuck the question in the back of my mind, and pressed my shovel into the hard dirt. It made a crunching sound, like a sun-baked crust is supposed to sound like. I wonder how freakin' long this is gonna take to dig a stupid hole.

I stood on the shovel and it only sank down about an inch. I glared at the shovel, yelling at it silently. This was gonna take forever. I wanted to take the shovel and furiously hit the ground with it, but I knew that wouldn't dig a hole. Instead, I might get some lovely dent marks in the ground. Big improvement.

You know the feeling you get when you know someone is staring at you? Well, right now, I could tell the whole tent was staring at me. Watching my suffering. Losers.

"STOP STARING!" I yelled out of nowhere. There was movement again, as they all started to dig. I stepped on my shovel again, and picked up a whole clod of dirt. Great.

A song came to mind, as I started to hum it, to get my mind off this stupid digging. When I had a small hole of about the size of a football, I began to sing the lyrics to myself, so softly that I bet no one could hear.

"Without you, where do I belong? Without you, how can I go on? No love but your's will ever do. Tell me, how am I supposed to live my life without you?"

By the end line, I was singing loud enough that "he" spoke up. "I'm betting that's a Clay Aiken song."

You know, after you say you like Clay Aiken, everyone thinks that everything you do has to do with Clay Aiken.

"Actually, it's Kimberley Locke," I answered. That wasn't a lie, but not the truth either. It was a Kimberley Locke/Clay Aiken duet.

"Kimberley Locke? Who the heck...?"

"Stop badgering me!" I said, trying to dig, and maybe get finished in the next twenty-four hours. Didn't seem possible at the rate I was going. Of course, getting questioned didn't help either.

"I'm sorry," "he" muttered, sounding a bit sarcastic. I raised an eyebrow. When did he ever say "sorry" to me? Well, this was new...and a bit alarming. God, I'm reciting lines from 'Beauty and the Beast'. I must be going insane.

By now, I had a hole large enough to fit both of my feet in. Making some progress. By this rate, I see I might be done, in maybe about, the time when pigs fly. All the other guys' holes were at least two or three times larger than mine.

I went back to digging, singing random songs in my head to pass the time. When I was about one-sixth done with my hole, and the sun was already in the sky, making the heat unbearable, I saw a truck pulling up.

Maybe it was lunch...or just a sandwich and an apple.

About two hours later, Zero was actually done with his hole. I looked at his hole in awe, wishing it was mine. I had about one and a half more feet to go. Yeah, I was definitely gonna be the last one done with my hole.

An hour or so later, I was done. With my first hole. After digging one hole, I realized something.

I realized that I never wanted to dig a hole again.

I slowly trudged back to the Wreck Room, after dropping off my shovel, and walked inside to see everyone having a good time without me. Yep, definitely the last one done with my hole.

I sat down in an empty chair, and relaxed, or at least tried to with all the talking. Actually, digging that hole was much better than talking or more, arguing with the guys. That's pretty pathetic.

Mr. Pendanski suddenly came skipping in.

I believe that this guy has some issues. Some real issues. No one could ever be that happy, all the time.

"Hello happy campers!" the happy-go-lucky guy said. No one even paid attention to him. He looked around, and then shouted, "I have a letter here for...a...Kristina Charon."

And my name caused all the guys in D-Tent to turn around and notice. Oh great. I rolled my eyes and got up, walking over to Mr. Pendanski. He smiled at me when I walked over.

"Hello Kristina. How was your first real day here?"

I didn't answer his question, instead, I asked him, "Can I have my letter?"

"Sure, sure." He handed me an envelope with sparkles and stuff all over it. I could see the multiple colored handwriting on the envelope. I knew who sent me the letter right away. This was Alexa's work.

I went back over to the chair and sat back down, slowly opening the envelope. In some way, I was happy I got a letter. It connected me with the outside life. Outside this camp full of guys. Finally, someone the same gender. But, on the other hand, it made me miss my life outside this place. My actual real life. I shook my head of these thoughts, and took out the letter.

Oh wow, she even had designed writing paper. I quickly read the letter.

Hey K,

So, sent to a bad camp. You, of all people. Sent to a camp of bad guys. Bad guys...now I wish I was you. Damn. Well, you can't yell at me for going off topic cause you're like a million miles away, so...have you seen a guy with his shirt off? Was he hot? I would die. Wait, the whole camp is full of guys...so...do they walk around without shirts, all the time? Are they all hot? Do you wanna switch places? ...Because I really want to be you right now...oh, btw, I planned ahead...so...check your bag...I snuck a camera in there. Now, I have instructions for you. Take the camera out, and take pictures of all guys there...preferably without their shirts on. Then send all the pictures to me. See, I have my ways around things. Now I can "be there". And I can have a scrapbook full of hot guys.

Oh, you're gonna kill me, for taking up that much space talking about guys, aren't you? Well, guess what, you can't cause you're all the way in Texas! Okay, um...how has the Texas heat been so far? I bet it's especially hot there because of the guys. Oops...did I just write that? Well, I'm probably correct anyway. WAIT! Do you actually get to socialize with the guys all day? I mean, they're there all day, aren't they? I wish I was you. I think I might go out and steal something. Maybe I'll be sent there.

Back to the letter now. Having a great time there? (HOT GUYS!) Or...are the guys there really ugly? I hope not. Because I want GOOD pictures. Anyway, hope you're doing fine, and write back. Or have the guys write back to me. I'd enjoy that. I bet you're getting mad at me, so I'll end this letter. Oh, and we're having a great time here without you. ...seriously...

Just kidding.

The Friend Who Wants You to Take Pictures of Hot Guys,

Alexa

P.S. I still can't believe that out of all of my friends, Goody-Two-Shoes Kristina gets sent to a juvenile camp. Maybe I will never believe it.

Yep, this letter showed exactly how Alexa was in real life. I wonder if she did sneak in a camera. I hope not.

None of my friends knew the real reason I was sent here. They thought I did something "bad" and was sent here. I told them to write me the day before I left. I didn't really expect they would.

I felt someone move behind me. I turned around to find all the guys standing there, trying to read the letter over my shoulder. I quickly folded the letter in half, to hide the writing.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" I asked, with a sigh.

"Umm...nothing..." ZigZag said.

While listening to ZigZag's answer, "he" came around and, in my hands, opened the letter a fraction of an inch. I hastily tore it away from him, and moved it out of his reach.

"Wait," "he" said, "Did I just see 'I still can't believe that Goody-Two-Shoes Kristina got sent there' or something like that?"

No. I couldn't let them know that. "No, no, you didn't."

"I did. I swear, that's what I read."

All the other guys looked interested. They 'oooo'ed like it was a show or something. What's so bad about finding out a person is good?

"Well, you're wrong," I said, but I knew he wasn't gonna believe me.

"You're a goody-two-shoes, aren't you? You just got sent here because of a bad decision or something. Am I right?" "he" exclaimed.

Oh god no. I didn't want the guys to think I was a wimp. "No, you're wrong!" I think I said it with too much emotion in my voice, because I knew they knew right then.

They all smirked, and from that moment, I knew I was dead.

"So, I bet you don't have a gang, do you?" Magnet asked.

This cannot be happening. "Actually, I do. This letter is from a person in my gang."

"Really? For some reason, I don't believe that," someone else said. I was too busy freaking out to know who.

"Just forget it. Think what you want. Just don't bring it up out loud," I said.

I was hoping that would work. And to my surprise, they all shrugged and went back to what they were doing before.

Alexa's dead when I get home.

I went to dinner sometime after that. I looked around and noticed that "he" wasn't sitting at the table with the other guys. I looked around the whole mess hall, and discovered that he was nowhere to be found.

But did I care? No. Once again, I avoided the guys and took my food outside. Oh wait, not food. This wasn't food. I took my "food" outside. Yes, that's more appropriate.

I wish I wasn't ever assigned to this. This was a nightmare. Why couldn't they have gotten a guy to do this assignment? That would have made much more sense.

I was about to walk inside the tent, and then I noticed that "he" was sitting in there. His back was facing away from me, like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be.

Then I heard something. Lyrics, I think. I stepped closer to the entrance, until I could make out what he was saying, or more singing.

"As soon as you get that feeling you can start to live again. As soon as the worst is over you can make it all make sense. Right now I can't give you what you need. As soon as you get that feeling, run to me."

Oh my god. I can't believe it. It was almost too perfect. I smirked to myself, and then calmly stepped into the tent.

I think he was listening for outside sounds because he noticed right away. I saw him look at me out of the corner of his eye, and then quickly hide something.

"What are you doing?" I asked innocently.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

I walked over to the cot he was sitting on, and grabbed whatever it was he was hiding. He tried to stop me, but I was too fast.

It was a CD player. Exactly what I thought. I looked up at him. He was looking at me, almost fearfully. He knew I was going to figure out his secret. What could be sweeter than this?

I gave him a confused look, and then opened the CD player. Ha, I was right!

"So...you stole this from me?" I asked, coolly.

"I was...just...making fun of it."

"Really?" I took it out and looked at the blue and white CD. "You stole my Clay Aiken CD...to make fun of him? I don't think so."

"Seriously! I hate him! I was making fun of that loser."

"Well..." I smiled to myself. "I don't think the other guys would buy that."

"What would you do? I don't think you have the guts to do anything."

"Alright. Then I'm sure the guys would want to know you stole my Clay Aiken CD, listened to it, and were even singing along."

"He" sighed. "What do you want?"

I put on my best shocked face. "You're giving that easy? I thought you were stronger than that. I guess bad boys even have their weaknesses."

"Just shut up."

He looked so defeated. It was almost sad to watch. "Listen. I won't tell the guys if you don't make fun of Clay anymore. Or anything like that."

"Fine."

"And try to be a bit nicer," I added.

"Nicer?" "he" asked, "You're the one that's mean to me."

"Yeah right. Do you remember our first conversation? You're the one that was calling me all those nicknames!" I was becoming defensive.

"Sorry," "he" said, almost sarcastically. I hate that.

"So, do we have an agreement here?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

I nodded. This was almost like an intelligent conversation. Wow, an intelligent conversation with him.

Maybe things will get better between us.

Doubt it.


	6. The Annoyance of Nicknames

It was after dinner when all the guys came back that the subject came up. And little after that, we were all arguing. It started just a couple minutes ago.

"You know what?" Magnet said, the last one to enter the tent. Everyone ignored him, but he continued talking anyway. "Kristina here doesn't have a nickname yet."

That caused everyone to look up from what they were doing. Even me.

"What?" I asked. I remember Mr. Pendanski saying something about getting nicknames, but I never put it together with me getting a nickname. Heck, I knew the guys had nicknames – but I didn't want one.

"A nickname. Everyone gets a nickname," Caveman said.

I shook my head. "Well, I don't want one."

"But everyone has one. You need a nickname to survive in this place!" ZigZag exclaimed.

I laughed. "It seems like I'm doing good so far without one." Dry humor. The guys just didn't seem to understand it.

"What can we nickname her?" Armpit pondered.

"Hello? Didn't I say I didn't want one?"

"You have to have one Kristina," X-Ray told me.

What the-? I didn't have to have one. That was just stupid. So, I told them that. And that's where we all started arguing. Me arguing about not having a nickname, every else saying I had to have one. Except "him". Of course, that's probably because of our bet.

After about five minutes of arguing, they just started to ignore me. Fine, have it their way. But I'm not gonna have a nickname. Final. They were all huddled in a group, except for Zero, would just stayed on his cot, watching them all. I could probably have a staring contest with him. Yay. The guys were probably picking out a stupid nickname for me. Well, I wasn't gonna use it. I wasn't gonna answer to it. No way.

I heard little snippets of what they were saying. It seemed as if they were picking out a nickname by what I liked cause I heard, "feisty" (I hate it when guys call me feisty), "Clay", and "angry". Angry, I'm not angry. I just don't like being here. I also heard "short". Urgh, I hate it when people call me short. I might be, but I don't like it when people talk about it.

ZigZag turned around and faced me. "Hey, Kristina, what do Clay fans call themselves?"

"Why should I tell you?" Everyone in the group rolled their eyes. I explained myself further. "If I tell you, that'll probably just become my nickname. And I don't want one."

"Fine," ZigZag said, and they started talking in the group again. Then Magnet turned around.

"Kristina, what's your favorite series of books?" Magnet asked. Innocent enough of a question. They probably never read them anyway.

"Anita Blake series," I answered him. People often tell me that I act like Anita from the books. With her attitude toward stuff. I guess I do, but at least I don't actually do what she does. Like sleeping with vampires, werewolves, and wereleopards...at the same time.

Magnet raised an eyebrow, then went back to the group. Either he'd actually read the books, or he didn't know what I was talking about. I'm betting on the second one.

I sat there, watching them discuss what my nickname would be. Then they all turned around to face me. Zero actually looked interested in what they were gonna say. Probably more interested than me. Strange.

"We have discussed it, and we have come up with a nickname for you Kristina," X-Ray announced. I sighed in frustration. They never listen to me. "Since you like the Anita Blake series, and one of us here actually have read the series..." I raised an eyebrow at that. One of them read those books?

I didn't like the looks they were giving me. "He" came forward, and did a bow. He reached out, taking my hand, and softly kissed it. He looked up and said, "Bonjour, _ma petite_." I should have killed him. I should have, but I didn't. Instead, I gave him a weird look.

"You don't make a very good Jean-Claude," I said.

"What about Richard?" "he" asked. So, he was the one that read the Anita Blake series! He didn't seem like the one who would read those books, but he was surprising me a lot lately.

I just stared at him and shook my head. My nickname is _ma petite_? My God, that is...well, not that lame. It was actually pretty creative. But still. _Ma petite_, the nickname that Jean-Claude gave to Anita. I could live with that.

I just stared at all of them, and then said, "You guys scare me sometimes." If you have nothing to say, maybe just a simple comment would work.

"Only sometimes?" ZigZag asked. Even Zero smiled at that, which caused me to smile too.

"Sometimes you guys are just idiots..." I said, then as an afterthought, added, "And sometimes it's too stupid, it's funny."

"Well, _ma petite_, maybe our charm is just getting to you," "he" said. You may make a bet with the guy, but you can never totally end the teasing.

"Ha. Yeah right," I said, making it so sarcastic that I was sure they would notice. "Keep dreaming."

"Aww...you love us. I know you do." I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't stop smiling.

Just then, Mr. Pendanski walked through the door. "Alright guys..." He looked at me, "And girls...it's time to sleep. Nighty night!" Then he skipped out of the door. Can I say it once again? Problems, serious problems.

Urgh, another sleepless night.

It's about impossible to sleep with Armpit snoring a few cots away. Well, at least to me. The guys seem to have gotten used to it or something. Thirty minutes passed, with the guys all asleep. I was the only one who hadn't fallen asleep yet. I sighed, and then slowly got out of my cot, walking over to the tent door.

Maybe the fates were telling me to get to work. Or maybe I just can't sleep. But I decided anyway to go and check out that black file.

I made it quite easily to the main building again. This place seriously needs some guards or something. Because someone like me could just be snooping around, and they'd never notice. Brownie point for me.

Dammit. I forgot a bobby pin. Just my luck. Well, there's always the window. Today must be my lucky day. I get to crawl through a window! I walked over to the window, and saw a bench a couple feet away from it. Silently, I dragged the bench over to the window, and then stood on it, looking inside. Dark as usual. Just hope no one intrudes again.

I slowly opened the window, glad it wasn't locked. With a quick look inside, I climbed in. Or more tumbled in. When I was safely inside, I walked over to the cabinet, and once again opened the drawer that contained the black file. I skipped through the white ones, and went to the back, seeing the black one. I quickly grabbed it, and closed the cabinet.

Now, for the secret of this black file. I opened it and saw two words before my flashlight died. Curse everyone. I held out the file, not sure what to do. If I took it back with me, someone might notice. But if I didn't, I would have to come back here another day. Urgh. I put the file back in its cabinet, and sneaked back to the tent, unseen once again.

Back inside the tent, and in my cot, I began to wonder what those two words meant...just two freakin' words...but they could answer the question...

"THESE CHICKS DON'T EVEN KNOW THE NAME OF MY BAND!"

I already had a headache the moment I woke up. And I could guess why.

"BUT THEY'RE ALL ON ME LIKE THEY WANNA HOLD HANDS!"

I wanted to die then. I wanted to just die. God, save me.

"CAUSE ONCE I BLOW, THEY KNOW THAT I'LL BE THE MAN!"

I was gonna kill him. KILL HIM...

"ALL BECAUSE I'M THE LEAD SINGER OF MY BAND!"

"SHUT UP, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!" ...Oops. Didn't mean for the swear words. Urgh, but I did not wanna wake up to "him" screaming the lyrics of 'My Band'. I just didn't.

"And she's awake!" "he" announced to all the guys, which caused them all to groan. Was I missing something here? "Told ya I could piss her off so much to make her swear. Fork it over guys."

They bet on me?! And on pissing me off? They're gonna die, just die.

"I hate all of you," I said, sitting up. "Is this amusement to you guys? Pissing me off? Does it amuse you?"

They all stared at me like I was crazy. But, hello! I wasn't the crazy one, they were. To piss me off for a bet. That was just lame.

There was silence. Then..."Breakfast time!"

I groaned. It was just like guys to never answer questions. I stared angrily after them as they left, and then fell backward onto the bed.

I suddenly remembered the two words in the black folder.

Criminal Conviction.

Now what the hell did that mean?


	7. The New Kid

Another day, another freakin' day to get through without losing my sanity. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was impossible. Oh great. I skipped breakfast once again, grabbing some food and coming back to the tent. I sat on the steps leading up to the tent, watching everything around me. Some boys were scrambling around, and I wondered why the heck they weren't at breakfast. I decided not to care.

I had about five minutes until breakfast was over. Then I would have to dig another hole, for no apparent reason. What fun.

It was then I looked around at the boys scrambling around in front of one of the tents. It looked as if something big was happening. Maybe I should check it out...or not. There was an older man there, probably the counselor of the tent, watching the crowd. He suddenly turned and then looked straight at me, or at least in my direction. I sat up straight and stared back at him. He was about forty years old it looked like, bald, and wearing black sunglasses. He then turned away from me, and went back to his tent. Strange people here.

I was too busy staring at the mob of people that I didn't notice anyone standing behind me.

"So, _ma petite_...is the crowd interesting or something?" I looked him to see "him" behind me. I shrugged, trying to figure out what was with the group there. "I heard there's a new kid."

I looked up at him, and said, "How do you know?"

"Everyone was talking about it at breakfast. Turns out this kid beat up a guy five minutes after he got here."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Noodles got beat up by the new kid," I heard Caveman say behind me. The rest of the D-Tent was back, joining into our conversation. 

I laughed inwardly at the kid's nickname, and then asked, "So, what's this new kid's name?"

"No one knows. Everyone's afraid to ask him," Armpit said.

"Damn," I muttered to myself. I sighed and got up off the stairs, ready for another lovely day of digging. We made our way to the 'Library', getting our shovels. I grabbed my shovel and turned around to bump into someone.

"Sorry," I automatically said. 

That's when I noticed all movement around me stopped. I looked at everyone, who was staring at me shocked. Then I looked at the guy I bumped into. He looked angry with me; his gray eyes were narrowed. He had dark brown hair, almost black. It reminded me of someone in a movie, but I won't say because it's not relevant.

"You bumped into me," he said. Duh, that's obvious.

"Obviously," I answered him.

"What's your name?" He spoke in a low voice, like he was trying to act all tough and scary. Well, it wasn't working.

"What's your's?" I said, with a smirk. Everyone was watching us two. It was like a death match fight or something. Maybe I'll win.

"You can call me Richard, Richard Haywood." Immediately after he said that, I laughed. This guy was so fake. Trying to act tough with his tough name. It was just hilarious to watch. I laughed right at him, and he just stared at me with his "evil look", if you can call it that.

"Okay, _Haywood_," I said, making an emphasis on his name, "I know what you're trying to do. Stop acting all tough and go running over to your hole." Then I just turned and walked away. He didn't try to stop me or anything. Stupid kid.

Everyone stared at me as I walked past them. I just ignored them and continued walking. D-Tent finally caught up with me. 

"Do you even know who that was?" Magnet asked me. 

I laughed again and answered, "Oh that was Haywood. Richard Haywood." Saying his "name" was just too funny.

X-Ray cut in. "That was the new kid."

I raised my eyebrow at that. Haywood was the kid who beat up Noodles? Okay, I have to admit, that's a funny phrase. So that's why everyone was so shocked when I stood up to him. Well, Haywood wasn't all he seemed. Just a big liar trying to act tough.

"You'd better stay away from him. He might come after you."

I blinked at that statement. "The bad boy reject is gonna come after me? Well, that makes me so scared."

"Seriously," "he" said, "He already beat up someone. Maybe you should stay away."

"Are you guys scared of this kid or something?" I asked them, confused by what they were saying. Didn't these same kids get sent here for doing crimes? And they're scared of a bad boy reject? Never thought I'd live to see the day.

"No," "he" said, "We're just looking out for you."

I rolled my eyes. "Now I'm the damsel in distress. Thanks guys. Thanks a whole bunch." They just stared at me. I sighed, and said, "He's not all he seems. I can handle him myself. Don't worry about me, just go your merry ways."

D-Tent eventually gave in to what I had to say, and then we went out for another day of digging. But this time, I was too busy thinking about this Haywood kid to think about the pain or the heat. I just kept digging, thinking about "Richard" and his antics. Could he be part of the reason I was sent here?

Maybe...just maybe...he was sent here, and the black folder tells why. "Criminal conviction". Haywood got sent here for a crime and was convicted of it. It made sense. But what was so illegal about that? The FBI wouldn't care about that. Maybe I was going the wrong way with this case. Maybe the black folder had nothing to do with it.

As soon as I called it a "case", I thought of the movie 'Murder by Numbers'. Mayweather found out who killed the girl, and I would be like her to find out what was illegal here. Though there would be a twist and I wouldn't kill the innocent one in real life. Even if he was trying to kill me. That movie still makes me mad.

I shook my head clear of those thoughts, and tried to stay on subject. Haywood still could have absolutely nothing to do with this though. Must not jump to conclusions. But that didn't mean I had to totally forget about this kid. Maybe I can find something out about him, snoop around. That couldn't hurt.

The water truck came soon enough, and suddenly we were all sitting around our holes, eating what I guess they call lunch. I continued to think about Haywood, and what he can have done to get himself here. Or maybe he was framed, maybe he was victim. So many possibilities.

"Hey! Hey, _ma petite_!" I heard off into the distance, but I was still too caught up in my own thoughts. The yelling got louder, and I finally turned around.

"What?!" I yelled at the guys.

"We were just wondering why you've been so quiet," Zigzag spoke for the whole group.

I shrugged in response, and said, "I dunno. Cause I can be?" I returned to my thoughts through the whole digging process, and before I knew it, I was done. I still took longer than everybody, but at least this time I didn't suffer.

I dropped off my shovel and started to head to the Wreck Room. Passing by D-Tent, I stopped and looked across to see C-Tent. My guess was that Haywood was in C-Tent by the crowd I saw there this morning.

With a quick look around, I made a decision to peek around. I slowly walked around to the tent, and making sure no one was watching, I walked inside. It was just like D-Tent, except there was a cot that still had a bag and the boy's stuff on it. Most likely was Haywood's.

I quickly unzipped his duffel bag, and started rummaging through it. Clothes, a hair brush (at that I rolled my eyes), more beauty products (because a bad boy always has to look good), a magazine (which was Sports Illustrated, look how much I care), sunglasses, paper, writing utensils...After awhile I got tired of looking through all the normal stuff. I tore through the duffel bag inside and out, but there were no strange or unusual things in it whatsoever. Nothing under Haywood's cot, nothing else on top. Nothing in his little drawer thingy. Just...nothing...I had nothing. Just great.

I started to put everything back into the duffel bag, and had everything situated. I looked around, and tried to make my way out of the tent's door.

But there was someone in my way.

The tent's counselor. I stared up at him while he stared at me through his sunglasses.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me, in a gruff voice that sounded imitating. Wow, Haywood could get some lessons from this guy.

"I'm just looking...for...someone," I lied, "But they weren't here. So I was just leaving..."

"Never come into another tent without permission," the counselor said. I just stared at him and nodded my head. "My name's Mr. Hammond. I'll be seeing you around, Kristina." My eyes widened as he said my name. He couldn't have known my name. Well, unless he talked to Mr. Sir or Mr. Pendanski. I quickly walked away from C-Tent, gratefully getting away from Mr. Hammond. Now that guy was freaky.

But more that I thought about it, everyone at Camp Green Lake was freaky. 

Instead of going over to the Wreck Room with all the annoying noise, I went to my tent, to my cot, where I couldn't be bothered. I had a To-Do List anyway. Well, sort of.

I quickly wrote a note to Alexa, explaining to her that Camp Green Lake wasn't all it seemed, and told her all the guys here were fat, but she could still have pictures if she wanted. That would get her off my case for awhile.

Afterward, I thought about my failure at finding clues. Not a happy thought, but it was the thing most on my mind at that moment.

I knew "he" entered the room before I looked up. It seems like he's my stalker now and I could depend on him to follow me around.

"Why weren't you in the Wreck Room?" "he" asked.

I shrugged for the billionth time that day. "Because I didn't feel like it," I answered him simply.

"Why have you been so...mopey dopey lately?" "he" asked. He almost got me to laugh with the mopey dopey thing, but I didn't.

"I don't know. Just a bad day I guess." Or a bad case.

"Is there anything more?" "he" asked. It's strange how annoying a person can be one minute, and how nice and comforting the next.

"Everything is screwed up today. Things aren't just going...how they planned." I wanted to tell him more, but couldn't. He just stared at me and I continued, "I'll be fine. I just need a good night's sleep and I'll be fine. So don't worry about me."

"Okay, but I hope you know, everyone in D-Tent is behind you, so we'll be there for you."

I said the first thing that came to mind. "Thanks." I then noticed who I just told my problems to. "Why the heck did I just tell you all that?" I asked.

"Because..." "he" paused. "I was here and you needed someone to talk to?"

"Close enough," I said, "So your nickname's Squid. What's your real name again?"

"You don't need to know." It was then "he" was updated into being named Squid. Three extra letters. Three very proud extra letters.

"Yes I do," I said.

"No you don't."

"I'll tell everyone you were listening to Clay if you don't tell me," I threatened him.

"You said you wouldn't if I didn't tease you anymore."

I smirked at that. "You still teased me, so tell me, or I will tell. And believe me, I'll have fun with it. We have a P.A. system in the lunch room, right?"

He just started at me, as I started listing off ways to tell the whole camp that he loved Clay Aiken. "Or I could tell everyone that you want to marry Clay, or just want him. Second one's better, cause everyone will think you're really a freak," I continued on about torture methods.

Suddenly, a voice spoke over mine. "My name's Alan."

"Why don't we just keep our real names? What's the point of having nicknames anyway?"

"Because we could. And it's just easier if you have two people with the same name, you know."

I checked my watch, and found out that "dinner" or whatever started two minutes ago.

He must of knew what time it was because he asked me, "Coming to dinner?"

Hmm...good question. Should I sit here bored, with no one around, or should I go to noisy dinner, with all the guys there to annoy me? Tough decision. "Alright," I finally said, "I'll come. But remember, I still know what you listened to."

"And I still know what you did last summer," he added. God, that was lame. But, gotta admit that my last sentence did sound like that movie. Oh well.

We started to head over to dinner, conversing about what we did last summer.

Hey, maybe it's a start of a friendship. And with the one who annoys the heck out of me. Is there something wrong with that picture? No, it definitely makes perfect sense.


	8. When My World Wasn't Upside Down

Here I am again, sitting on the steps to the tent, skipping breakfast. Normal routine by now. I hate the point in the case where you have all these leads but nowhere to go with them. So, here I am, sitting on the steps to the tent, thinking about the stupid case and what it all means. And, yes, I have nothing.

Anyway, my mind keeps wandering. I can't think in the early "still dark" morning. Which I don't consider morning but oh well. The moon was still out, but there was light, just enough so you could see.

And when my mind wanders, I usually start thinking about, none other than, Clay Aiken. Actually, his songs just get stuck in my head and prevent me from thinking anything useful.

I could hear the saxophone playing in the background and the words came to me. "For five long years, I thought you were my man. But I found out, I'm just a link in your chain. You got me where you want me, I ain't nothing but a fool. You treated me mean, yeah, oh, you treated me cruel."

Ah, the wonderful memories of Clay concerts, and the lovely song "Chain of Fools". I know I seem to think about Clay a lot, and it's a bit annoying but oh well, I can do what I want, whenever I want.

Well, at least when I'm by myself and everyone isn't telling me what to do. I'm such a loser. "Chain chain chain, chain chain chain, chain chain-ain-ain chain of fools."

Chain of Losers. Yeah, that's what that song should be named.

Well, when I get started with a Clay Aiken song, I, at least, have to finish it. So it continued playing in my head. As soon as the song ended in my head, I looked over to see a figure walking over to me, carrying something.

As soon as the person got near enough, I could tell it was Squid, and he was carrying something. He walked up beside me, and then stood in front of me, carrying, like, six pieces of toast and one was already in his mouth.

I looked up at him like he was crazy, and all he did was say, "You want some toast?"

I made a face at him, and then said, "Not really."

"Oh come on!" Squid took a piece of toast off the top of the stack and waved it around in the air. "Look at the dancing toast. It wants you to eat it! Yummy yummy toast." I continued to look at him like he was a psycho. And he just continued with the "dancing toast" act.

I looked down at the ground and tried to think. There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly, Squid's face appeared in front of mine. "Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked simply.

I slowly shook my head. "No, nothing." I don't know how convincing it was, because all Squid do was stand there, staring at me.

"Are you sure? Cause you've really been out of it."

I actually wanted to just tell someone why I was really here. I really wanted to, but I knew I couldn't. I was being forced to lie to everyone here. "It's just a little thing," I lied once again. At least I admitted something was bothering me.

"You can handle the little things," he told me. "You're a strong girl."

I smiled, and replied with a very boastful, "I know."

"You're such a self-conceited bitch." I had to stop myself from laughing at his remark. Indeed I was. I could agree.

"And you're an arrogant bastard," I said back.

I looked out into the distance to see many figures leaving the dining hall. Which only meant one thing: Digging time. I so look forward to this every single solitary day. Yay.

"Time for another delightful day of digging!" I said, as sarcastically as I could manage. And that's pretty sarcastic.

"Stop complaining and do something about it." I looked over at Squid, as we started walking over to the "Library".

"What the heck do you mean? We can't do anything about it. That's the point," I told him, as we picked up our pace over to the rest of the guys.

"Make it interesting. Instead of just digging, do something else too," he explained. I just stared at him in confusion. Okay, how could I make it interesting? I guess he didn't want me to be all quiet and reserved as I was yesterday.

We met up with the rest of the guys, grabbed our shovels, and were led out to where we would have to dig. As I started to dig my hole, I thought about what Squid had said. Make it interesting. Okay, so how could we make digging interesting?

I suddenly got an idea. "Hey, do any of you guys know how to sing?" I called out.

"No way," Magnet answered.

"You guys would seriously be no fun in a karaoke bar," I announced.

So we started arguing about singing and music styles. Ah, the fun I was hoping for. Arguing, the most fun of all.

"I don't really like rap," I said in the heat in the discussion.

"Of course. All you listen to is Clay Aiken," ZigZag teased me. I hate the way the guys say Clay's name. They say it like it's poisonous.

I rolled my eyes. "I listen to other things too. But guys, Clay Aiken isn't all that bad. I mean, can you hold out a sixteen second glory note?"

"A glory note?"

"Yeah," I liked explaining about Clay Aiken-related things. It was fun. "Like in the middle of Solitaire. Out of nowhere you hear..." Oh goody, I was gonna sing. "Solitaireeeeeeeee..."

The guys just started at me at first, and then shook their heads. "That's a long note," X-Ray exclaimed.

"Yeah, but at a concert Clay held out a thirty second note with his backup singers. Really long time." That thirty second note always became a contest at the end of one of his songs with his backup singers. It was a memorable moment.

"So what other music do you listen to?" Squid asked, leaning against a wall of his "soon to be but not yet" hole. I don't know if he was trying to change the subject off of Clay, or if he really wanted to know. Oh well, that doesn't matter.

"Umm...Maroon 5, Switchfoot, Evanescence, basically a lot of bands that are way different from Clay. I like a variety of music," I said, and then quickly added, "Oh, and a lot of oldies. My parents got me hooked on the oldies."

"Oldies? Why oldies?" Armpit asked.

I shrugged. "They're cool. Like some of the oldies are just classics. Many artists from today redo them cause they're so well known and loved." I continued to dig my hole, which was going faster as usual, since I was preoccupied with the conversation.

"Name one," Caveman said.

"Umm...Solitaire was redone many times. Kyrie by Mr. Mister, Rosanna by Toto, Still The One, not the version by Shania Twain but by that other group, I Love Rock and Roll, need I go on?"

"Aren't all of Clay's songs an oldie redone?" I heard a voice from behind me. Whoo-hoo. I must be very special if I got Zero to join in our conversation.

"A couple, but all. All of his songs on his CD are original. He just had to do other songs on American Idol and his tours."

"Sing one," Squid suddenly said.

I looked over at him like he was crazy, which wasn't the first time today. "I don't want to," I told him flat out. I wasn't gonna sing a whole song in front of a bunch of guys.

"Come on, sing one." They all wanted me to sing a song. I just tried to ignore them and get back to my digging.

"Okay," I looked up to see Squid looking at me. "If you sing a song, I'll...um...do something in return."

"Like a revenge?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sure, whatever you want to call it."

Those were the words I was looking for. Revenge. This was gonna be fun. Now what song would I sing? It had to be Clay Aiken and off his album, but which one? Invisible was too well-known, and I needed a song that wasn't as popular. It had to be a song that would be another topic later on, so we could get through this digging thing. A controversial song. Ooo...I had one.

"Let's see..." I pondered and then started the song while digging,

"When the world wasn't upside down, I could take all the time I had, but I'm not gonna wait when a moment can vanish so fast. 'Cause every kiss is a kiss you can never give back.

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. I've been waiting forever for this, this is the night.

When the answer to all my dreams is as close as a touch away, why am I here holding back what I'm trying to say?

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. Hold me close, to your heart. I would go with you to the ends of earth and we'll fly. I'd been waiting forever for this, this is the night.

This is the night...where we capture and all our tomorrows begin, after tonight we will be never be lonely again...

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. Hold me close, to your heart. I would go with you to the ends of earth and we'll fly. I'd been waiting forever for this...this is the...night..."

There was a silence after I finished my song. "It's Clay's anthem," I tried to explain during the silence.

"Is that a song about...dirty stuff?" Caveman finally asked.

I laughed. "Clay doesn't even know." Often Claymates would ask what that song was about, if it was religious or just about...well...what it sounded like.

I continued my digging, and then looked over at Squid. "You've gotta do thing I get for revenge."

He sighed. "What then?"

I thought about it for awhile, and finally decided that he'd have to wait, have to sweat it out. In fact, I knew a way the dare, as I was gonna call it, could be more embarrassing. "Hmm...I have it, but you'll have to wait until everyone is around to do it."

"What!?" he exclaimed, "That's not fair!" He stopped digging to look over at me with a look that said all.

"Oh yes it is. You'll never know when the dare's coming, but it's coming all right. And believe me, you'll hate it." I ended the sentence with a smirk. Squid just frowned and went back to digging.

Oh what fun! I get to torture Squid! I thought about what he would have to do for the dare until people started to finish up with their holes. I didn't want this to have to do with Clay, since he probably thought that in the first place. I wanted it to be a total surprise.

It was while I was digging my hole I noticed that Squid was already done, leaning against his hole with his eyes shut.

"Umm...what are you doing?" I asked him, making him startle awake.

He shrugged, rubbing his eye, getting out the sand. "Keeping you company I guess."

"Well, that's great," I sarcastically said, digging out the last shovel-fuls of dirt in my hole.

"Just trying to be nice, ya know. Can't you return the favor?"

I really wanted to just tell him that he's wrong, but I decided to keep my cool. "I am, you just don't notice."

"Right. That's why you're so nice to me," Squid retorted.

"Look. It's just my personality so you'll have to deal with it." Everyone has to deal with me anyway.

Squid shrugged again, lifting himself out of his hole with ease. I still can't get out of my hole without climbing out. Guess it took practice.

I measured my hole, and then lifted the shovel onto the ground above me. I looked around the hole for a second, and then looked up to see Squid watching me. I knew what he was thinking. That little Kristina couldn't get out of the hole without struggling. Well, I was gonna show him wrong.

I tried to put my foot into a little hole I dug on the side, and hoist myself out. I put my foot on the side of the hole and the "foothold" collapsed on me, causing me to fall onto my butt.

"Come on." I looked up to see Squid reaching out his hand to me. "You're never gonna get out of that hole the way you're working at it." I looked at me, wondering if I should take his hand or not. Finally, I grabbed his hand and he pulled, helping me get out of the hole and landing on the barren wasteland above me.

I brushed myself off, standing up. I was about to get my shovel when I saw the look on Squid's face. "All right, all right," I said with a sigh. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. See, that's what I'm talking about."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe you should tell yourself that," I said, grabbing my shovel and brushing past him.

He walked with me to the library, even though we barely said a word to each other the whole way there.

"Big news you guys!" X-Ray said, coming out of nowhere behind us. "There's another new kid."

"Another one?" I asked, and even though I thought I said it in my head, I actually said it outloud.

"Yeah. Noodles was beat up pretty badly. He had to leave." There was a minute of, what I'd like to call, "silence for Noodles", until X-Ray spoke up again. "Oh, and he already had his nickname."

"Already?" Squid asked, doing the exact same I did when X-Ray told us the news.

"Would you stop asking dumb questions?" X-Ray snapped. We both shut up. "Anyway, yeah. Since he got off the bus eating a Reeses cup, we nicknamed him Reeses."

Sounds like someone I knew. But, no, he would never get sent to a camp like this.

We walked to the Library, dropping off our shovels, X-Ray following us the whole way, telling us about the new kid, but nothing real specific. All I knew was that this kid is now nicknamed Reeses, and he had brown hair. That's about it.

I walked past our tent, and everyone came out as I did, crowding around me.

"Going to see the new kid?" Magnet asked.

"No." I replied, "Actually, I'm going to the Wreck Room."

I walked by A-Tent, to hear a familiar voice shout out, "KRISTINA!"

Confused, I turned around and saw the person I least expected to see. "W-what are you doing here?"


	9. Slowly Coming Together

So, here I am again, sitting on the steps to the tent, skipping breakfast. Normal routine by now. I hate the point in the case where you have all these leads but nowhere to go with them. So, here I am, sitting on the steps to the tent, thinking about the stupid case thingy and what it all means. And, yes, I have nothing.

Anyway, my mind keeps wandering. I can't think out in the early "still dark" morning. Which I don't consider morning but oh well. The moon was still out, but there was light, just enough so you could see.

And when my mind wanders, I usually start thinking about, none other than, Clay Aiken. Actually, his songs just get stuck in my head and prevent me from thinking anything useful.

I could hear the saxophone playing in the background and the words came to me. "For five long years, I thought you were my man. But I found out, I'm just a link in your chain. You got me where you want me, I ain't nothing but a fool. You treated me mean, yeah, oh, you treated me cruel."

Ah, the wonderful memories of Clay concerts, and the lovely song "Chain of Fools". I know I seem to think about Clay a lot, and it's a bit annoying but oh well, I can do what I want, whenever I want.

Well, at least when I'm by myself and everyone isn't telling me what to do. I'm such a loser. "Chain chain chain, chain chain chain, chain chain-ain-ain chain of fools."

Chain of Losers. Yeah, that's what that song should be named.

Well, when I get started with a Clay Aiken song, I, at least, have to finish it. So it continued playing in my head. As soon as the song ended in my head, I looked over to see a figure walking over to me, carrying something.

As soon as the person got near enough, I could tell it was Squid, and he was carrying something. He walked up beside me, and then stood in front of me, carrying, like, six pieces of toast and one was already in his mouth.

I looked up at him like he was crazy, and all he did was say, "You want some toast?"

I made a face at him, and then said, "Not really."

"Oh come on!" Squid took a piece of toast off the top of the stack and waved it around in the air. "Look at the dancing toast. It wants you to eat it! Yummy yummy toast." I continued to look at him like he was a psycho. And he just continued with the "dancing toast" act.

I looked down at the ground and tried to think. There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly, Squid's face appeared in front of mine. "Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked simply.

I slowly shook my head. "No, nothing." I don't know how convincing it was, because all Squid do was stand there, staring at me.

"Are you sure? Cause you've really been out of it."

I actually wanted to just tell someone why I was really here. I really wanted to, but I knew I couldn't. I was being forced to lie to everyone here. "It's just a little thing," I lied once again. At least I admitted something was bothering me.

"You can handle the little things," he told me. "You're a strong girl."

I smiled, and replied with a very boastful, "I know."

"You're such a self-conceited bitch." I had to stop myself from laughing at his remark. Indeed I was. I could agree.

"And you're an arrogant bastard," I said back.

I looked out into the distance to see many figures leaving the dining hall. Which only meant one thing: Digging time. I so look forward to this every single solitary day. Yay.

"Time for another delightful day of digging!" I said, as sarcastically as I could manage. And that's pretty sarcastic.

"Stop complaining and do something about it." I looked over at Squid, as we started walking over to the "Library".

"What the heck do you mean? We can't do anything about it. That's the point," I told him, as we picked up our pace over to the rest of the guys.

"Make it interesting. Instead of just digging, do something else too," he explained. I just stared at him in confusion. Okay, how could I make it interesting? I guess he didn't want me to be all quiet and reserved as I was yesterday.

We met up with the rest of the guys, grabbed our shovels, and were led out to where we would have to dig. As I started to dig my hole, I thought about what Squid had said. Make it interesting. Okay, so how could we make digging interesting?

I suddenly got an idea. "Hey, do any of you guys know how to sing?" I called out.

"No way," Magnet answered.

"You guys would seriously be no fun in a karaoke bar," I announced.

So we started arguing about singing and music styles. Ah, the fun I was hoping for. Arguing, the most fun of all.

"I don't really like rap," I said in the heat in the discussion.

"Of course. All you listen to is Clay Aiken," ZigZag teased me. I hate the way the guys say Clay's name. They say it like it's poisonous.

I rolled my eyes. "I listen to other things too. But guys, Clay Aiken isn't all that bad. I mean, can you hold out a sixteen second glory note?"

"A glory note?"

"Yeah," I liked explaining about Clay Aiken-related things. It was fun. "Like in the middle of Solitaire. Out of nowhere you hear..." Oh goody, I was gonna sing. "Solitaireeeeeeeee..."

The guys just started at me at first, and then shook their heads. "That's a long note," X-Ray exclaimed.

"Yeah, but at a concert Clay held out a thirty second note with his backup singers. Really long time." That thirty second note always became a contest at the end of one of his songs with his backup singers. It was a memorable moment.

"So what other music do you listen to?" Squid asked, leaning against a wall of his "soon to be but not yet" hole. I don't know if he was trying to change the subject off of Clay, or if he really wanted to know. Oh well, that doesn't matter.

"Umm...Maroon 5, Switchfoot, Evanescence, basically a lot of bands that are way different from Clay. I like a variety of music," I said, and then quickly added, "Oh, and a lot of oldies. My parents got me hooked on the oldies."

"Oldies? Why oldies?" Armpit asked.

I shrugged. "They're cool. Like some of the oldies are just classics. Many artists from today redo them cause they're so well known and loved." I continued to dig my hole, which was going faster as usual, since I was preoccupied with the conversation.

"Name one," Caveman said.

"Umm...Solitaire was redone many times. Kyrie by Mr. Mister, Rosanna by Toto, Still The One, not the version by Shania Twain but by that other group, I Love Rock and Roll, need I go on?"

"Aren't all of Clay's songs an oldie redone?" I heard a voice from behind me. Whoo-hoo. I must be very special if I got Zero to join in our conversation.

"A couple, but all. All of his songs on his CD are original. He just had to do other songs on American Idol and his tours."

"Sing one," Squid suddenly said.

I looked over at him like he was crazy, which wasn't the first time today. "I don't want to," I told him flat out. I wasn't gonna sing a whole song in front of a bunch of guys.

"Come on, sing one." They all wanted me to sing a song. I just tried to ignore them and get back to my digging.

"Okay," I looked up to see Squid looking at me. "If you sing a song, I'll...um...do something in return."

"Like a revenge?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sure, whatever you want to call it."

Those were the words I was looking for. Revenge. This was gonna be fun. Now what song would I sing? It had to be Clay Aiken and off his album, but which one? Invisible was too well-known, and I needed a song that wasn't as popular. It had to be a song that would be another topic later on, so we could get through this digging thing. A controversial song. Ooo...I had one.

"Let's see..." I pondered and then started the song while digging,

"When the world wasn't upside down, I could take all the time I had, but I'm not gonna wait when a moment can vanish so fast. 'Cause every kiss is a kiss you can never give back.

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. I've been waiting forever for this, this is the night.

When the answer to all my dreams is as close as a touch away, why am I here holding back what I'm trying to say?

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. Hold me close, to your heart. I would go with you to the ends of earth and we'll fly. I'd been waiting forever for this, this is the night.

This is the night...where we capture and all our tomorrows begin, after tonight we will be never be lonely again...

Lift me up, in your eyes. If you told me that is what heaven is well you'd be right. Hold me close, to your heart. I would go with you to the ends of earth and we'll fly. I'd been waiting forever for this...this is the...night..."

There was a silence after I finished my song. "It's Clay's anthem," I tried to explain during the silence.

"Is that a song about...dirty stuff?" Caveman finally asked.

I laughed. "Clay doesn't even know." Often Claymates would ask what that song was about, if it was religious or just about...well...what it sounded like.

I continued my digging, and then looked over at Squid. "You've gotta do thing I get for revenge."

He sighed. "What then?"

I thought about it for awhile, and finally decided that he'd have to wait, have to sweat it out. In fact, I knew a way the dare, as I was gonna call it, could be more embarrassing. "Hmm...I have it, but you'll have to wait until everyone is around to do it."

"What!?" he exclaimed, "That's not fair!" He stopped digging to look over at me with a look that said all.

"Oh yes it is. You'll never know when the dare's coming, but it's coming all right. And believe me, you'll hate it." I ended the sentence with a smirk. Squid just frowned and went back to digging.

Oh what fun! I get to torture Squid! I thought about what he would have to do for the dare until people started to finish up with their holes. I didn't want this to have to do with Clay, since he probably thought that in the first place. I wanted it to be a total surprise.

It was while I was digging my hole I noticed that Squid was already done, leaning against his hole with his eyes shut.

"Umm...what are you doing?" I asked him, making him startle awake.

He shrugged, rubbing his eye, getting out the sand. "Keeping you company I guess."

"Well, that's great," I sarcastically said, digging out the last shovel-fuls of dirt in my hole.

"Just trying to be nice, ya know. Can't you return the favor?"

I really wanted to just tell him that he's wrong, but I decided to keep my cool. "I am, you just don't notice."

"Right. That's why you're so nice to me," Squid retorted.

"Look. It's just my personality so you'll have to deal with it." Everyone has to deal with me anyway.

Squid shrugged again, lifting himself out of his hole with ease. I still can't get out of my hole without climbing out. Guess it took practice.

I measured my hole, and then lifted the shovel onto the ground above me. I looked around the hole for a second, and then looked up to see Squid watching me. I knew what he was thinking. That little Kristina couldn't get out of the hole without struggling. Well, I was gonna show him wrong.

I tried to put my foot into a little hole I dug on the side, and hoist myself out. I put my foot on the side of the hole and the "foothold" collapsed on me, causing me to fall onto my butt.

"Come on." I looked up to see Squid reaching out his hand to me. "You're never gonna get out of that hole the way you're working at it." I looked at me, wondering if I should take his hand or not. Finally, I grabbed his hand and he pulled, helping me get out of the hole and landing on the barren wasteland above me.

I brushed myself off, standing up. I was about to get my shovel when I saw the look on Squid's face. "All right, all right," I said with a sigh. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. See, that's what I'm talking about."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe you should tell yourself that," I said, grabbing my shovel and brushing past him.

He walked with me to the library, even though we barely said a word to each other the whole way there.

"Big news you guys!" X-Ray said, coming out of nowhere behind us. "There's another new kid."

"Another one?" I asked, and even though I thought I said it in my head, I actually said it outloud.

"Yeah. Noodles was beat up pretty badly. He had to leave." There was a minute of, what I'd like to call, "silence for Noodles", until X-Ray spoke up again. "Oh, and he already had his nickname."

"Already?" Squid asked, doing the exact same I did when X-Ray told us the news.

"Would you stop asking dumb questions?" X-Ray snapped. We both shut up. "Anyway, yeah. Since he got off the bus eating a Reeses cup, we nicknamed him Reeses."

Sounds like someone I knew. But, no, he would never get sent to a camp like this.

We walked to the Library, dropping off our shovels, X-Ray following us the whole way, telling us about the new kid, but nothing real specific. All I knew was that this kid is now nicknamed Reeses, and he had brown hair. That's about it.

I walked past our tent, and everyone came out as I did, crowding around me.

"Going to see the new kid?" Magnet asked.

"No." I replied, "Actually, I'm going to the Wreck Room."

I walked by A-Tent, to hear a familiar voice shout out, "KRISTINA!"

Confused, I turned around and saw the person I least expected to see. "W-what are you doing here?"


	10. How To Drive Someone Crazy

**Okay. If you are reading this and you're like "where the heck did the puncuation go", then READ THIS. This website (it won't even let me put f f . net because it's being stupid) won't upload a lot of things. So it's not my fault. There. Just had to say that first. **

Ashley: Little story here. Well, my notebook with this story in it was lost. I looked in my backpack, at the computer desk, in my room, in the spare bedroom, and it was nowhere to be found. So, where did I finally find it? Come on, I'll give you one good guess. Come on, you can guess, I'll wait. Got your guess? Do you know where the notebook was? Well...

I still don't know where it is. SO I HAVE NO NOTEBOOK-dies- I need to it continue. So, I'll just wait to get it back. I WAS FINALLY GONNA TYPE IT AND IT'S NOT HERE! ...I wonder where it is. I am now into my hour of searching. I believe it is nowhere to be found.

And I never found it. It's been "MIA" (Missing in Action, as my Biology teacher would say) for about two months.

Oh, and there's a Clay Aiken pun in the chapter. I'm sorry, but I _had_ to add it! If you see it, CONGRADULATIONS. If you don't, then...you're a loser. ...Sorry, that was a bit mean. If you don't see it, then...GO BUY HIS CD. There.

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Holes. Don't own Wicked. I don't even really own this disclaimer, since I didn't come up with the word.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: How To Drive Someone Crazy**

I looked toward the door, and saw the _second_ person I'd least expected to see. Yes, send everyone to help Kristina. She is helpless and needs everyone's help with this case. Sometimes I just hate the agency.

A girl stood in the doorway, wearing a light blue blouse with a khaki skirt, and light colored high-heels. Formal-looking for her. She brushed her sunglasses back, brushing her hair back at the same time. I watched as she looked around and stopped on Matt, hiding back a smirk. I basically held back a sigh at everything. Why the heck does this happen to me? No other agents get interrupted in the middle of their case. She calmly walked over, and stopped in front of Matt.

"What happened to you?" Yes, great first impression. Where will this lead to?

"Why are you here?" Matt asked. Great first question, Matt.

"Are you okay?" she said. Reasonable question.

"Why are you dressed up?" Wow, Matt and I think alike. Weird.

"What's happened to you?" She has no clue.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Matt asked, strongly but quietly. There, assertive Matt. That's what we need more of.

She stepped back, looking around at everyone watching. About everyone in the whole cafeteria was watching the little fiasco at our table. And when I say everyone, I mean _everyone_. "I'm here for school. I'm here for a report," she explained, trying to avoid the gazes of everyone. School report. Sure, no one will buy that.

She turned around and noticed me. "Hey Kristina." Finally noticed. I was beginning to think I was invisible. Oh, wait, I already am.

"Hi Ashley." I said back. I really wanted to say "What the hell are you doing here?" but I decided that would stir up some questions. Mustn't let everyone know.

I seriously had nothing to say after that. So, I decided to just introduce her to everyone. "Ashley, this is Zero, Caveman, Zigzag, Armpit, X-Ray, Magnet, and this idiot is Squid."

"Stop being a brat, _ma petite_." Squid said loudly.

I rolled my eyes. "Brat? Is that the best you can do?" Squid didn't respond, so I just looked at him weird, and then turned back to Ashley. "Here, sit down." I made a seat for her between Matt and me.

I _really, really, really_ wanted to know why the heck she was here, but I couldn't ask, not with everyone around. It bugged me to death.

I looked over at Matt and he looked quite pissed. It made me smile to tell the truth. The reason why he was here didn't even matter anymore. Yay.

"So, you're here for a school report," X-Ray asked. No, actually, she's here for me, but you wouldn't know that.

"Yeah," Ashley answered, "I had to check out a place and then write a paper on it. I got this when we were assigned random places."

"So what you're saying is that they let you come into Camp Green Lake for a _report,"_ Magnet asked.

Yeah, it was quite shocking. Oh, wait, it wasn't true. But, seriously, Ashley needs better lies.

"Basically. What? Is that strange or something?" I had to stop myself from laughing. Of course it was strange. School report + Camp Green Lake strange. It was a fact. Like 2+2 4.

"Are you going to start your report now?" Caveman asked.

Ashley hesitated for a second, and then just said "Sure, sure. I'll even quote some of you." She took a notebook out of the bag she had with her and also got out a pencil. "So...um...what do you guys do here?"

Big mistake to ask that. All the guys looked at each other, as if afraid to say it. What? Would you get in trouble for actually telling someone? What freaking idiots. They thought they would get in _trouble_ for something like _this_. Or they might just be trying to pick a person to tell Ashley. Fun.

"We dig holes." I turned around in my seat to look at Matt. "That's all we do. We dig holes. Sounds _fun_, doesn't it? Doesn't it sound _thrilling_?" Matt said this all with a note of sarcasm in his voice. Did I mention he was pissed? I think I did.

Ashley looked at Matt, and I could tell she was holding back from just yelling at him. Instead, she just said softly, "Okay, I think I'll go and interview some _other_ people." Then Ashley just got up and left.

"You're so _friendly_, Matt," I said to him as soon as Ashley left. I got out of my seat, and without a word, left the Mess Hall. I wanted to know why Ashley was here, and I knew that this was going to be a little complicated.

She probably didn't go to talk to other guys, since she wasn't actually here for a school report. Knowing her, she was probably outside walking around and yelling, or writing something to vent her anger. I turned the corner and started to walk to the tents.

And there was Ashley, sitting by one of the tents, with her notebook out.

I walked up to her and asked, "Do I want to see?" Usually, stuff Ashley wrote when mad would be...well...pretty interesting.

"He acts like it's my fault. It's...not...my...fault!" She started to scribble out what she was writing. "It's not my fault I was sent here"

I sat down next to her. "Why _are_ you here?"

Ashley sighed. "I know." That's all she said. Okay then.

"_What_ do you know?"

"I know who's after you. I know the name of the person who is trying to kill you."

My eyes widened, and I tried to process what Ashley just said. The name of the person. What if it was someone I knew? What if it was one of the boys I had come to know? I was almost afraid to ask whom, but eventually, it came out. "Who?"

"John Holdenstein."

Wait. Was there a John Holdenstein here? If there was, how come I never heard of him? Why did he want to kill me? And why was Ashley sent here to tell me this? I decided to start out with the simple question.

"Why did they send you to tell me? Why just send a letter or something?"

"It might have gotten intercepted. Too risky."

Good point, but I had a better one. "Then you could have used a code."

"Well, then it might have taken you too long to find out. It was urgent. You needed to know the moment the agency did."

Urgent. What did she exactly mean by that? "So, I'm in danger, right now?" Ashley just nodded. That was not good. How could this John be? Could someone here be telling me a false name? Could someone I knew actually be John?

"Are you going to stay and help me?" I swear, as soon as I said that, Matt walked up.

Ashley looked over at him and then looked back at me. "What do you think?"

"Hey! _You're_ the one that came here," Matt said.

"Yeah, because I _had_ to. It wasn't a choice. Like me going up to them and going "Oh yes, I want to be sent to Camp Green Lake to make Matt all mad at me."" She rolled her eyes.

"Well, now that you're here, there's no reason for _me_ to be here!" I sat back and just watched them argue. I needed some popcorn.

"Then _sorry_ that we got information after you left. For now on, we won't let anyone have new information. We'll just let them _die_!"

"Just to let you know!" I spoke up. "I'm glad you _both_ are here. You both can help me, and I appreciate that."

They both just looked at me with blank faces. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have spoken up.

"Yeah, we should be helping her, not arguing," Ashley agreed. Yay! "Even though I could win the argument."

I sighed, as Matt looked at Ashley with a glare. I could really use an interruption right at the moment. "Hey!" I looked up at Squid running over. Well, maybe I should have clarified that "interruption".

He stopped in front of us and asked, "What's up?"

We just all looked at each other, and finally, Ashley stood up. Yay, I think they're done arguing. We started walking over to the Wreck Room. I started to wonder how much I had exactly missed in my friend's lives.

"Hey, did you tryout for musical?" I asked Ashley, turning to her.

"Yeah, and I had purple hair."

"And I missed it!" Ashley with purple hair. That would have been a sight to see. Just like Matt getting arrested.

"It was cool," Matt chimed in. "She should have kept it in."

"Oh, and I had a green face with a witches hat."

Aha. Now I know what musical she did. "Let me guess. Elphaba aka the Wicked Witch of the West."

"Yep."

I started laughing. "I can't believe I missed that! That would have been priceless."

"You." Squid turned to Ashley and looked at her with disbelief. "_You _were the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"Well, yeah. But she really wasn't all that wicked. In fact, it was never her fault that everyone started the rumors about her being wicked." Ashley explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you _talking_ about? That's not in The Wizard of Oz!"

"Wicked," I said at the exact same time as Ashley and Matt. Oh goody, we get to teach Squid here all about the wonders of the musical Wicked. This was going to be fun.

"It's a wonderful musical," Ashley said.

"About what happened in Oz before Dorothy came and screwed it all up," I added. Amazing what one musical can do to change your views on everything.

"With some great songs," Matt added.

The instant Matt said that, I knew what was coming up. Ashley turned to me and we began singing, "There's nothing that can stop you from becoming popu-ler..." Ashley and I looked confused and then said, "...lar." We immediately started laughing at our little inside joke.

Squid looked at us as if we were crazy and then said, "I'm confused."

"Good. Stay that way," I said to Squid, then turned back to Ashley. "Now, what song did you do?"

"Defying Gravity."

Defying Gravity? Which one was that? Wow, it's been too long. "Which one is that?"

"The "so if you care to find me, look to the western sky" one."

Oh yeah. I love that song. Especially the background music. "Oh yeah. That's cool. How good did you do?"

Ashley started laughing. "My CD started skipping. But other than that, okay."

Squid sighed deeply and looked over at us with the most exasperated face ever. "Anything else you wish to discuss and waste my life away?"

There was a short silence, as I thought about something to say to tick Squid off again. Hmm...I couldn't think of anything. Then Ashley burst out laughing and said, in the middle of her laugh, "Fiyero is so ugly."

I about fell over laughing at the look on Squid's face. I decided to continue. "Did you see that picture of him? He's just...so..." Ashley and I both shuddered and then started laughing again.

I don't know if Matt decided to join in or just to do his random singing. "Poor Galinda, forced to reside with someone so disgusticified..."

We all started to join in, and I found it extremely amusing to tick Squid off like this. "We just want to tell you we're all on your side! We share your loathing, unadulterated loathing..." Squid just continued to watch in...well...utter confusement? It was pretty funny to watch him.

We continued to sing all the way to the Wreck Room, with Squid looking like he would just burst out screaming at any random moment. "There's a strange exhilaration in such total detestation. It's so pure and strong! Though I do admit it came on fast, still I do believe that it can last. And I will be loathing, loathing you my whole life long!"

"We're here!" Squid shouted, running into the Wreck Room. All of us began laughing again.

We walked in to see the whole gang staring at Squid as if he was crazy. My mission was complete.

"What did you guys do to him?" Magnet asked.

I put on my most innocent face. "What are you talking about?"

Magnet just looked over to Squid, and then back at me, as if he couldn't tell who was actually telling the truth. He probably didn't know what to say, so he spoke to Ashley. "Can you interview us now?"

Ashley, who was writing down stuff in her notebook, looked up. "Why not?" She flipped to a new page, and paused for a second. "Uh...how close is everyone here?"

"Close?" Magnet looked around at everyone.

"Yeah, like how well do you know everybody. Do you know them all by name?" Suddenly, I understood. She was helping me through a direct source.

"Umm...most. There are some people-"

"And do you know any Johns?" Ashley cut him off.

Magnet gave Ashley a weird look. "Just one."

There was a John here then. Could he be the one after me? "What do you know about this John?" Ashley asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Magnet asked. I knew that question was coming.

"Just a random name I picked to really get to know one of you here." Fair excuse. "Now, what do you know?"

"He...umm...is in B-Tent and he's been here longer than me. I think he came here because...of theft of something. He's kind of quiet. Doesn't speak much, but when he does, he never stops talking."

Ashley hastily wrote all of this down. "Okay, that's all I wanted to know." Ashley got up to leave.

"Hey! What about me?"

Ashley quickly sat down again and asked, "What is your favorite color?"

"Red?"

"Thank you!" Ashley jumped up again, and went outside to sort through the new information. I looked around and couldn't find Matt anywhere. Where the heck was he?

I sat down on the couch, thinking about why anyone would want to kill me. Nothing came to mind. Maybe if someone really hated people.

"Your friends are interesting..." I glanced to my side to see Squid there. "Making me seem like a psycho is sure hard work for some people."

"Not really. I do it everyday."

I never got an answer from Squid because Matt grabbed me. "Kristina, I need to tell you something," he whispered in my ear. I turned around, waved goodbye to Squid who was just sitting there with another confused look on his face, and then walked out of the Wreck Room with Matt. Ashley was standing by the door, with a folder in her hands.

And not just a folder. The black one.

"How-" I started to ask.

"Don't have time. The answers are all in here Kristina," Ashley said. "We know everything now."

I was right. The black folder was the answer to why I was here. Matt continued. "Everything about the John we know about, why he wants to kill you, and-" Suddenly, he stopped. I gave Matt a confused look, and then looked over at Ashley to see her looking at something behind me. I turned around and saw the one person I _really_ didn't want to hear my conversation.

Squid was standing there. He shook his head and just said, "Can you explain to me what's going on here?"

* * *

Ashley: Okay, okay. I have some things...well...a lot of things to say. First, Ashley got down with this chapter on the resolution of getting done the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance. Haha! I didn't go! 

Next, I know you were reading this chapter, and thinking that everything was FICTION. Well, I have to tell you that the thing about musical tryouts was true. I was Elphaba, I did have purple hair, my face was green, I had a witch's hat, I did sing Defying Gravity, my CD did skip during my song, my friends do burst out singing random songs all the time, Fiyero is ugly...

And to prove this all to you, I have pictures and sound clips...If you go to my bio page, you will see a bolded statement at the top saying that the links are on my homepage. Go to the homepage. And there you will find links. A link of a picture of the guy who played Fiyero (UGLY!), link of me singing "Popular", and a link of me singing a part of What Is This Feeling (both songs are found in this chapter). Yeah. So please please _please_ go and check that out!

-sigh- I love Wicked. Anyway...here are the comments to people who reviewed the last chapter:

**ZiGgI**: Yay! You were my 50th reviewer! Rock on! And I didn't stop. See. NEW CHAPTER! Yay!

**Starcaoe**: YAY! YOU LIKE CLAY AIKEN-hug- You rock.

**XxTwitchyxCharmxx**: That last chapter was like, the only one I updated fast. And then I went back to my slowness. And if I do get into musical, I will _never_ have any time to write. Wow. Yeah.

**Nosilla**: "I wonder who that could be" IT WAS ME! Whoa, that rhymed. I RHYME! Umm...I finally updated. Heh.

**Xylem**: No romance for me. -cries- I need a Fiyero...except cuter. Not ugly Fiyero. A cute one. So I won't have to sing the Fiyero/Elphaba duet from Wicked alone. -sigh- Going off subject. Umm...I made myself just be the "information getter" in this story. Heh. Yeah.

THANKS EVERYONE FOR REVIEWING!

I will have the next chapter up...by...May. WAIT! Before musical. That's my goal. -nods- Until then. -leaves-

Squid: Did she forget about us?

Clay-shrug-

Takato-blink-

Ryan-blink-

Liam-walks in- Review to this story. -walks out-

Everyone: O.o (which secretly means "REVIEW OR ELSE!")


	11. Realizing What Is Around You

Ashley: ...Um, hi! If you happened to read my profile, you would have noticed I promised this chapter would be out long before now. I'm sorry about that. I didn't notice how busy the end of the school year would be. But now I'm out of school and ready to write the last two chapters. I owe the writing of this chapter to...the Rent soundtrack. Which I'm playing right now...

_Disclaimer:_ Remember: "You are what you own." (_Rent)_ And don't own Holes.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Realizing What Is Around You**

No way. This could _not_ be happening. I was dreaming. I _had_ to be dreaming. I was going to wake up any moment now. Any moment.

I closed my eyes and then turned around to face Squid. Nope. Still there. How could this _not_ be a dream? "Squid." I said his name as a warning, warning him about what he was going to get into.

"I want to know. I want to help."

I looked down, contemplating on whether or not to tell him everything. I couldn't tell him I was a FBI agent. It would be breaking the rules. But could I trust him with everything else? "How much did you hear?"

"Someone...is trying to..._kill_ you?" He looked like he didn't know if he was saying the right thing.

"Yeah, yeah. Someone is trying to kill me." Matt and Ashley looked at me as if I was crazy telling him that. "I don't know _exactly_ who."

"Am I a suspect for trying to kill you?"

It never came up in my mind before then. But as soon as he said that, I shivered. He could have been the one trying to kill me. Why did I just tell him I knew!

He must have noticed the scared look on my face, because he hastily said, "No, no, no! I'm not trying to kill you. I just want to help."

He walked over to me, and looked right in my eyes. Maybe to break me down, maybe to show me he was serious. "Kristina." Him saying my name took me a bit off guard. He never said my actual name since I got my nickname. But we both knew this situation was too serious for stupid nicknames. "Sure we fight...a lot." At that I had to hold back a smile. "But that doesn't mean I would want to kill you...even if you sometimes do get on my nerves. So, who is trying to kill you?"

"I-I'm not sure. Do you know a John Holdenstein?" I suddenly became aware of where I was actually conversing about this subject. "And I don't think you should answer that here." I rounded the corner into the nearest tent, and then turned to Squid. "You know anything?"

"No," he said simply. I suddenly wished that he said more than one word. I wanted details. I wanted to hear that he knew everything.

I sighed, leaning against the side of the tent, not even caring if collapsed and I fell through. Needless to say, I didn't, but still. "I don't know anything," I muttered, "This is so _frustrating_."

"We need to get to a computer," Ashley suddenly said.

I looked over at her and shook my head. "But where are we going to get one?" I didn't want it to seem like the situation was hopeless, but let's face it, it's so hopeless that I don't even know if I'm going to survive it.

Squid just stood there, staring at me as I worried but a future murder (well, I hope not). Yeah, not a typical situation. "Hey, don't worry, be happy," Squid said, as I looked over at him.

"What? You becoming a counselor or something?" I asked him sardonically. I was becoming a "Sardonesaurus". Ha. Not funny.

"No, but I am trying to help. This is just me being serious."

Squid being serious? Ha, once again. "Serious. Mm-hmm. Go on."

"_Anyway_," he said, sending me a glare, "This John guy is not going to kill you. First of all, you're at a _camp_. There are people all around. Now, how could this random axe murderer-"

"Since when were we talking about an axe murderer? I thought it was only a guy who wanted to kill me, and now it's an axe murderer?"

"_Kristina_," Squid said, through clenched teeth, "Let me finish what I was going to say."

"Sure, fine, whatever, great..." I said, offhandedly.

"_Anyway_." He started again. "You have two friends over there, doing everything they can to help you. You have all these people at the camp. And I'll help too. Tell me what to do, and I'll help."

"Sentimental moment, everyone. Group hug!" I looked over at Matt, who had just said the lamest thing I've ever heard.

"Matt, shut up."

Squid turned to me again and said, slowly, "Okay. If you let me talk for once, I have an idea." I just nodded, with a smile. "There are people in the Wreck Room. Which means, if the random killer dude comes in there, he can't get to you. And we might be able to question some people too."

"Great idea. Let's go," Ashley said, before I had any time to make a comment. Dang.

We were right at the door of the Wreck Room when I suddenly realized something. "Guys." I stopped before I got to the door. They all turned to look at me. "What if-well-my "supposed killer" is one of the guys...in my tent?"

I could tell that they didn't know what to say. Why didn't I think of this before? If I thought Squid was the killer, then any of the other guys could be too. What if they had been watching me, waiting...waiting for the right time...to kill me.

"Is it just me, guys, or is Kristina here getting a little paranoid?" Squid said.

Okay. Not the comment I expected. "Paranoid? I'm just thinking logically." I said simply, well, not simply. I said _logically_. There.

"All right. Logically and somewhat paranoid-like." I rolled my eyes. "Listen, I know those guys. I've known them longer than you have. And trust me, I don't think they would ever be sent here before you, waiting for _you_ to get sent here, and then try to kill you."

"So, what you're saying is-" Matt spoke up. "This killer dude was sent here _after _Kristina."

Whoa. Logical thought from Matt. Let's all applaud. Wait. Who was sent here after me? Just...Haywood? But he was just too obvious. It couldn't be him, could it? "Anyone else other than Haywood that got sent here after me?"

I didn't even really look up to know that Matt raised his hand. "Matt, put your hand down," I said in monotone. Oh well. At least he was thinking logically for awhile.

"Hey, who's that?" I looked over at Ashley, who was looking at that Pendanski guy. He was running over to us, looking really...dorky. Hopefully, he wasn't trying to give me another letter from Alexa.

He ran up to us and then stopped to catch his breath. We just stared at him. I checked my watch after awhile, growing a little impatient. "Ashley?" he finally asked.

"Yes?"

The Pendanski guy straightened up and finally stopped catching his breath. Wow, that took him like a whole minute. Sad really. "There isn't another bus leaving from Camp Green Lake until tomorrow."

That wasn't good. "So, what am I supposed to do? Stay here overnight?" Ashley asked. Hmm...that or...run away. Run away to find a bus. That really makes sense.

"Well, the Warden graciously offered you the main office bedroom, where Mr. Sir usually sleeps." I really wanted to ask why Mr. Sir didn't sleep with the other counselors, but never got the time. "It leads off the main office. And, of course, Mr. Sir is moving into the counselor's tent for tonight!"

He said this all with such enthusiasm, I just stared at him.

"Umm...okay. Thank you?" Ashley said, obviously startled by his abnormal quirkiness.

Then he just ran off. It was almost randomly. Didn't even say goodbye or anything. I stick to my judgment of him being really strange.

Once he ran off, I spoke up. "They're trying to make a good impression. That's why they have you in the main office bedroom." Then it just came to me. The main office. The office with a _computer_. With the filing cabinets loaded with information of everyone here. "This is..._genius._"

Squid stared at me like I was crazy. "Yeah, sure. Making a good impression is always genius," he said sarcastically.

"No, idiot. She's staying in the main office. With the computer and files and everything."

"So, we can do some researching," Ashley concluded. We started to walk back over to the tent, forgetting all about talking to people in the Wreck Room.

"And stay up all night with microwave popcorn!" Matt chimed in with a huge smile.

"Uh...Matt? We don't have any microwave popcorn," I reminded him. Sometimes he was just so annoying and clueless and weird, I wanted to hit him over the head.

"Well, can we have an all-nighter without popcorn then?"

"Seems like it," I exclaimed. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

"Yes!" Matt began parading around.

"Hey. I'm coming too."

I stopped at the top step of the tent and turned around to face Squid. "Oh no you're not. You're not part of the..." I looked for the right word. I couldn't just use FBI. So what the heck could I use? 'Team' sounded lame. A team of superheroes going off to fight crime and fight for justice. Yeah right. "...team." I can't believe I used that word.

He raised an eyebrow. "What team?"

We walked into the tent, stopping by the entrance to continue our talk. "Well, you know. _The _team." Great, "the team" doesn't sound anymore lame than team.

"Aren't I part of the team?" I was really beginning to hate that word now. "I mean, I know everything."

Well, actually, you don't. I almost said that, but stopped myself. "Listen, you can't come. It's...complicated. We can't all sneak into the main office." It was a lame excuse but maybe it would work.

"Oh come on! That makes absolutely no sense."

I just shook my head. "Sorry."

He made a frustrated scream sort of thing, and I could tell he was trying so hard to not yell. "You _frustrate_ me."

"Never would have guessed that," I said without a beat of hesitation. I realized that maybe that wasn't the best thing to say right after I said it.

"Hey guys." I turned around to see Magnet to walk in and save me from listening to Squid yell.

"What are you doing here?" I basically snapped at him. I was getting as frustrated as everyone else too. This was just a frustrating situation.

"Umm.." He looked taken back. "It's night now. See?" He gestured outside, and I looked out quickly to see the sun's rays just barely showing over the horizon. It wasn't actually night, by my terms, but I guess it was here.

"Oh," was all I had to say.

"I'd better get going," Ashley said, taking a step outside. She turned around for a second to show me 'twelve' with her hands. Midnight. Got it.

All the other guys slowly filed in and looked at Matt, and then back at me with a strange look on their faces. I guess they were still confused about dinner. Matt shook his head and them and simply left.

I watched as the guys continued to steal glances at me. Oh well. Let them think what they are. I would soon have the answers, and finally will be able to leave this camp.

This reminded me of when I had to meet Matt at midnight. Lying in bed, staring at my watch, watching the seconds blink at me. 11:50 and 24 seconds. I decided that I was going to leave at 11:55 to give me five minutes to sneak off to main office. Random things popped in my head while trying to pass time. Clay Aiken (when will his next concert be?), Broadway (how cool would it be to see a Broadway show?), American Idol (Constantine was so much better than Scott _and_ Anthony), my parents (I wonder if the FBI actually explained all this stuff to them), my friends (why did they have to come here?), Rent (Adam Pascal is pretty hot...), choir (wonder how the musical turned out), House (I miss that show), how it was going to end here at Camp Green Lake. What was going to happen? Was I going to win? _How_ was I going to win? Can I win? What is winning exactly? How can you win a game of life or death? It wasn't even a game. What would all the guys think? Would they hate me? What would change? I don't even know. I quickly checked my watch. 11:54 and 52 seconds. Time to go...

I carefully stood up, trying to be as quiet as possible. Especially with Squid in the same room and would probably want to come if he woke up. If I snuck out now, he'd never know and wouldn't follow.

I grabbed my shoes and slowly walked over to the entrance of the tent. I looked back to see that Squid was still sleeping. Thank God. I put on my shoes (which is harder than it seems to do while standing up and trying to be quiet) and then quietly left.

It was a quiet night tonight. Quieter than last night. Sometimes I wished it wasn't this quiet. It was too weird and unnerving.

I stopped abruptly. Footsteps. I heard footsteps. I whipped around and stared behind me. Please not be a counselor. Or anyone for that matter. Let me have been imagining things. Just for this, I wished I were hallucinating.

"_Boo!"_

My heart jumped, as I whipped around and grabbed whoever was behind me by the throat. It had to be the killer...it had to...

"God, you have fast reflexes." I looked to see I had Squid by the throat. Oops. Well, he deserved it anyway. Why did he come! Didn't I say not to? What an idiot!

"You're supposed to be scared," Squid said with a smirk that said "haha, I didn't listen to you and decided to sneak up on you while following". And I hated that.

"You _idiot_! I told you that you couldn't come!" I hissed at him.

"But I said I wanted to help!"

"Go back to the tent and _leave me alone_." I started to walk away from him. I just cannot _believe_ him!

"Aww...don't act like that."

I turned away and said in a calmer tone, "Please just go back to the tent. This isn't your fight."

"Alan-"

"Hey, don't you call me that!" He sounded annoyed with me. Maybe he'll finally get how annoyed I am with _him_ now.

"I'll call you _Alan_ if you don't go!" It was getting really hard not to just scream at him. If I weren't at a camp, at night, while everyone was sleeping, I most likely would have been screaming by now.

"Hmm..." He stopped for a second and looked thoughtful. "Okay. So if I let you call me Alan, then I get to come. I guess that's fair."

"Oh...my...GOD!" I screamed underneath my breath and stomped away from the idiot. I continued to walk to the main office, not even caring that he was walking behind me. I knew he followed me all the way to the main office, but I just continued to ignore him.

I got to the door and knocked on the door softly. "Password?" I heard someone whisper from behind the door.

I sighed and said, "Open the door before I have to knock it down." I wasn't in the mood for any games thanks to Mr. "Annoy Everyone" beside me.

The door opened quickly and I stood aside to see Matt standing there and Ashley sitting at the computer, looking up something.

I walked in and acknowledged Matt before walking over to Ashley to see what she was doing. "What's up?"

She turned around and the first thing she noticed was Squid-well-_Alan_ (yes, I do think it's funny) just standing there like an idiot. "He followed me," I tried to explain.

Ashley looked at me for a second, and then shook her head. "Don't have time for the details right now. Well, in this computer are the updated files of everyone here."

"That should be handy." I can't believe I just used the word 'handy'. I was using really strange words today.

"Handy, right."

There was a short silence, until I said, "So, who do you want to look up?"

"Umm..." I turned around to see Squ-_Alan _standing there with a bored look on his face. "So what are we supposed to do while you guys research?"

I crossed my arms. "See, this is why you shouldn't have came."

"But I'm _helping_!"

I ignored him and turned to the computer. Opening the file program, I scrolled through the lists of everyone. There were many guys in here, more than I thought. I scrolled up to see "Charon, Kristina". I leaned forward and clicked on my name.

**Kristina A. Charon**

**Age: 16**

**Birthday: January 24th, 1988**

**Gender: F**

**Residence: 124 Main St.**

**Davison, MI**

**Parents' names: Jon and Marie**

**Crime: Classified**

**Time: Six months**

I stared at my file for a second, almost laughing at the "crime: classified" part. And then I looked over at the picture they included. My horrible school picture. Yuck.

Someone was leaning against my chair. "Nice picture." I stared at it for a couple more seconds, deciding to tell Sq-_Alan_ (God, why couldn't I get that?) off in a second. "Thanks for that obviously not sarcastic comment," I said sarcastically back after a short time.

I clicked off of my file and scrolled down until I found a certain file. I clicked it and saw the picture that came up. "Your picture's...nice..." I was able to say. I couldn't make fun of _Alan's_ picture because he looked exactly the same as he did now. No fair. Then I noticed the next button, and clicked it "Aww..."

"Urgh! No!" Squid almost shouted, trying to grab the mouse away from me, but I held it out of his grasp.

"You were so _cute_ when you were five. Oh, and is that a Power Rangers watch?"

"Stop!" He finally grabbed the mouse from me and clicked out of the file. "We can't stay here all night. Now start finding stuff."

"I wonder why that had that picture of you..." I pondered, refusing to change the subject.

Alan (I am victorious! I got it now...) sighed. "This camp is strange and we'll never understand anything." That works.

I went back to scrolling, with everyone behind me watching. "Hey, why don't we check out Haywood?"

"Matt, just to let you know, that sounded really wrong." He frowned at me. "Besides, we don't even know his name."

"Well, look for something dorky. That's probably why he goes by his nickname," Ashley suggested. Actually, that made a lot of sense. I mean, if you had the name of, like, Amber for a guy or something, that'd be kind of embarrassing there.

I started scrolling through the names once again. All these names were giving a huge headache. Then something caught my eye. Yes. It was _perfect_. "Guys, look at this."

They leaned over my chair and stared at the name I highlighted. "Holdenstein, Leslie W."

I turned around to look at them behind me for a second, and then clicked it. "It's Haywood," I softly said. So I was right. All my suspicions. I was right. His picture was right there. It was him.

"Leslie Winthrop?" Alan laughed. I turned around and used the chair to hit him. I wasn't in the mood for stupid jokes.

"That's not the point. He's a Holdenstein," Ashley explained for me.

"Like John, right?" I merely nodded.

All I could think about was that Haywood was related. Haywood was my link. Leslie was my link.

**Leslie Winthrop Holdenstein**

**Age: 17**

I skimmed the rest of his information and headed straight to the relatives section. And luckily for me, he had a 'see more' section. Today was my lucky day. At least, I think. And there, under Mary Shinn, was the name of John Holdenstein. But, it seemed too easy. Was Haywood trying to kill me for his relative?

I stared at the name, ignoring everything and everyone behind me. I could tell they were getting frustrated behind me. I was just sitting here, doing nothing, while they waited, and waited, and waited. Suddenly, someone sighed and moved the mouse for me and clicked on John's name.

"There. You were really starting to frustrate me." I was about to mention to _Alan_ that he was the one that frustrated _me_, but the flashing box on the screen distracted me. It was password box, with nine spaces. I groaned. I hate breaking codes...

"Can we just hack into it?" Matt asked, obviously not wanting to go through this too.

Ashley took the mouse and went into a couple different programs. After a couple minutes, she sighed. "There's a problem blocking it."

So, long story short, we started putting in random word and letters. After millions of tries (no joke), everyone got extremely tired of the routine. I sighed, and frustrated, hit my hand on the keyboard. And, of course, it still didn't work. That kind of thing only happened in movies. But it was worth a shot, with my life being like a movie and all. I tiredly put in random words that I knew and kept clicking enter.

Suddenly, a box came up. Whoa. Hallelujah! Everyone stood up and stared at me in shock.

"What did you put in?" Ashley asked.

"Umm...I believe it was 'CLAYAIKEN' if I remember correctly."

Alan raised an eyebrow. "Strange."

"The scary happy guy might just be a Claydawg." I laughed quietly. That would be amusing. I turned back my attention to the computer and read through what just popped up. "John Holdenstein - counselor at Camp Green Lake. Known to be..." I stopped, staring at the name. It was him. No wonder this was password blocked...

"What?" Alan asked, leaning against the back of my chair. Normally, I would have hurt him for leaning on the chair and invading my personal space, but I was too caught up in the story of my "killer".

"He's actually here," I whispered. He could have killed me _already_. Oh god...

"Who?"

"Mr. ...Hammond," I said so fast and soft I was sure no one could hear. But they did.

Squid (forget about a bet right now...this is more important than name calling!) leaned forward some more, trying to read over my shoulder. "You mean the-"

"Counselor. Of A-Tent."

There was a long pause. The realization of what we had just learned finally sunk in. I wanted someone to say something, _anything_. Anything to get us out of this silence.

"You're not safe here," someone whispered behind me. I didn't really pay attention to who it was.

"No duh," I whispered back. But, seriously...

"What are we going to do?" Matt asked. That sounded like something an opera singer would chime in with. And believe me, Matt's not an opera singer...

"Tomorrow," I simply answered. "We'll finish this tomorrow."

"Get up! Come on guys!" I heard X-Ray yell. I refused to open my eyes and instead I just turned away and threw the covers over my head. I couldn't go out there. Not with Mr. Hammond waiting out there with an axe. At least according to my friends. Not with the threat of death looming over my shoulder, however corny that may be. I never run away from anything in my life, and here I was, hiding under my covers like that was a monster under my bed. Classic.

"Kristina, get up." The voice came from right next to me.

"Leave me alone," I said, knowing it was Squid (Urgh. I forgot I was allowed to call him Alan...). He's the only one who called me Kristina, so by process of elimination, it was him. I really didn't want to talk to anybody. I didn't want to get up and see anyone. I just wanted to stay in the shelter of my covers.

The hustle and bustle of the tent noise slowly faded away until I heard just the distant of everyone on the way to dig lovely holes. The next thing I knew, someone took the covers off my bed and threw them on the floor. Okay, so I was totally unready for that.

"Urgh, don't. I don't want to dig today," I groaned. And get killed. That was my goal.

Alan (yes, I remembered!) just stared at me and said, "No." I was about to tell him off by saying that he wasn't my mother and couldn't tell me what to do but he continued. "You'll get in trouble if you stay here."

"Who cares?" Seriously, who would care? Well, maybe my friends but they would understand. Mr. Sir might get mad at me but, really, this was the better alterative to being killed.

He sighed, and then paused. It was almost like a dramatic pause. "You want to skip today?"

I looked up. Skipping sounded fun. Not the walking-type of skipping either. That's what it sounded like to me for a second. "Skip? Like how?" That made me sound like I didn't know what skipping was. I'm so stupid when I talk sometimes.

"We can spy on Mr. Hammond." Sounds like _extreme_ fun.

Why did he think that with everything I had to do, he had to tag along? "We? Who said 'we'?"

"You're not skipping alone. You don't even know the best places to hide." Well, duh. Wait a second...

"How many times have _you_ skipped before?" I had to ask it.

He looked thoughtful for a second. "Just a couple," he answered innocently. I wonder how he pulled that off.

"I don't want to do this." I seriously didn't. I actually wanted to be back in school, maybe in Mrs. Root's Biology class taking boring notes off her endless PowerPoints. It was better than this.

"You hafta."

"No, I don't." Well, I kinda do. There's nothing I can do to get out of it.

"You want me to drag you out of here?" Alan asked. Hopefully as a joke.

"I'd like to see you try." He had to be joking because he knew that if he tried, he would die. Then he actually moved toward me. "Touch me and die," I warned him.

He stepped back again. "Come on, you need to get out of here," he exclaimed.

I sighed and stood up, and looked over to where my ugly orange suit was. "I'm not changing into this suits. They're orange, and guess what? Orange is easily spotted."

"Don't you think I've already figured that out?" No. I actually thought you were too stupid. He reached for his zipper, in which I shouted, "Stop now!" He stopped, and turned to face him.

"Yes?" That was annoying.

"What the hell do you have under your suit?"

"What's under a man's suit is his own business. Besides, I didn't even know you wanted to know." He said this all with a cocky grin. God. I really didn't mean it to sound like that either.

"Do you have a shirt and shorts and are _decent_?" I asked plainly. I should have just asked that first of all.

"...Check on the middle one."

"Get on a shirt."

"But-"

"You are _not _walking around with me with no shirt on."

He made a face at me. Childish. "Fine." I turned around and looked through my little drawer thingy. Was there anything I could use in here? Absolutely nothing. Unless I wanted to torture Mr. Hammond with a Clay Aiken CD. And I somehow doubted that would work.

I stood up and turned around. "Okay. Let's go." It was different seeing a person I was so used to wearing orange wearing a black t-shirt. Black, the worst color to wear in scorching temperatures. Smart. "But first, change your shirt."

"Why?" Did he seriously not know?

"Black is the worst color to wear here. Wear a lighter color," I explained.

"What? Like pink?"

He'd better not wear pink. "Like blue, red, green. Anything but black!"

After many minutes of useless arguing, he finally just gave in and changed into a blue shirt. Yay. Now I was happy. Sort of.

We walked out of the tent and started walking around it. I stopped once I noticed someone standing across from us, next to the other tent. Mr. Hammond. Not now. I grabbed S-_Alan_ (oops) and pulled him from behind a random crate. I couldn't just let Mr. Hammond see me now. I needed some time to think... "I can't. I can't do this." I couldn't just stay here with him across from me, waiting.

"What?" Alan looked at me almost incredulously.

"I can't go out there." I knew I would have to, but I couldn't just will myself to go out there.

"What is _wrong_ with you?"

I turned toward him. Wrong? What the heck! "_Wrong_ with me?"

"It's like you're a different person. You've become...well, almost weak."

Weak? What-! "What the hell do you mean?"

"Because of this whole situation, you've let all your defenses down. It's like you're letting everyone know your weakness. I don't know. It's like you're a different person."

I just looked at him with a puzzled look. "I haven't let anyone-"

"The day you came here, I bet you anything, _anything_ that you wouldn't have let me talk to you about this, about _anything_."

"Just-" I couldn't think of what to say. I shook my head. "We don't have time for this," I tried to end the conversation.

"And then you try to avoid it."

"I'm not avoiding anything!" I couldn't believe this. This was absurd. Why were we even talking about this now?

"You don't want to believe that this is happening. That everyone has seen your weak points."

"My weak points? Like physical?" He was making no sense.

"No, mental. Emotional."

...What? "I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about."

"You don't see it? You won't even go out there and just confront someone!" He was getting angry with me. I could tell.

"So? That means nothing. Just because I don't want to-"

"What happened to you? To the other girl I met?"

I wasn't going to scream at him. I wasn't going to. I wasn't. "Just drop the subject, okay?" I asked, as nicely as I could.

"No, not okay. You really don't believe me, do you?"

No. I do. That's why we're having this huge argument that's going nowhere. "Am I supposed to?"

"Yes!" he said, exasperatedly.

"Why? If you can't prove-"

He didn't even let me finish. "So, you want proof..."

Half the stuff I was saying I usually wouldn't say out loud. But today, I wasn't even thinking. "Well, duh. If you can't prove what you're saying, then how am I supposed to believe it? Just agree with a random fact? That's genius there. You know I'm-" That's when I noticed how close he was to me. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What? Scared?" he asked. What the hell?

I was about to say "get away from me", but he leaned forward before I knew what was happening and stopped me from saying anything by capturing my lips with his. What the hell-! He was actually, really, seriously _kissing_ me. This was seriously not happening..._not happening._ I was about to break off the kiss to slap him, but I just couldn't. What the hell? He was right! I actually gave in. I just couldn't comprehend this situation. I couldn't believe that he was right. Especially when he was..._kissing_ me. It wasn't a long kiss though. Just long enough to prove his point.

I should have screamed at him while he was still in my personal space. I should have screamed at him when he said, "if that won't prove my point, I don't know what will." I should have screamed at him when he sated in my personal space _after_ saying that. I should have. But I didn't. I couldn't. My mind was reeling as I was trying to comprehend my situation. It wasn't working. The comprehending part.

There was only one thing that I could say. "What the hell-!" I whispered, refusing to even look at him.

"You wanna confront Mr. Hammond now?"

What the hell? How could he just ask me that so calmly after what he did? "You're-you're an _idiot_."

"I think we established that awhile ago."

I had to get away from him. I just couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm going now." And just like that, I stood up and walked out from behind the crate. As I walked away, I noticed. That was his plan all along. He knew I was going to walk away. He knew. Why the hell did he have to be right!

* * *

Ashley: Go me for getting this chapter done...finally.

**Ashley** – Whoa. You have my name. YOU STOLE IT! It's funny cause your review actually did help me finish this chapter.

**XxTwitchyxCharmxx** – Hope you read this even if you're blocked. So, thanks for reviewing and sticking with me. Yep.

**Starcaoe** – I'm gonna finish this fic. I promise. I'm not going to give up this one. Thanks for the review!

People, I'm kinda getting desperate for reviews. Reviews actually do make me wanna update faster so...if you already reviewed, get your friends to review!

I'll update again sometime in July hopefully. I'm going to New York at the end of this month so it probably won't be this month. I get to see Wicked! Yay! Review and...you get the next chapter!


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